LEWISTON — Speaker, cultural commentator and transgender activist Janet Mock will join Bates College professor Timothy Lyle for a moderated discussion at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3, at Bates’ Schaeffer Theatre, 329 College St.

Mock, a longtime writer and editor, came out publicly as a transgender woman in 2011 via an essay in Marie Claire magazine. She is the author of a 2014 New York Times best-selling memoir, “Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love and So Much More.” She and Lyle will share the stage for a community dialogue.

Admission to the event is free, but space is limited and registration is required. Those interested in attending should visit goo.gl/S2FMhF.

The event will be immediately followed by a reception and book signing at 8:15 p.m. in the Bates Office of Intercultural Education, Chase Hall, 56 Campus Ave. Due to limited time, only attendees with copies of Mock’s book will be eligible to meet her in person. Copies will be available for purchase on site.

Mock’s visit is sponsored by the Bates student organization OUTfront. For more information, contact eponeman@bates.edu.

Lyle and Mock’s discussion will address the “complexities of managing intersectional identities” — how various identities such as gender, race and socioeconomic class will influence a person’s experiences — along with trans rights and experiences, the politics of allyship and solidarity, and how all of these things come together in communities large and small.

Since her book’s success — it debuted at No. 19 on the New York Times Best Sellers List — Mock has been featured on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Live,” “The Colbert Report” and “Melissa Harris-Perry.” She was also featured in the HBO documentary “The Out List,” and has appeared in The Washington Post, New York Times, NPR, Rookie, Salon, Slate, Feministing, Colorlines and more.

A native of Honolulu, Mock attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa, earned her master’s in journalism from New York University and worked as a staff editor for People.com for five years. Currently a contributing editor at Marie Claire, Mock lives and writes in New York City with her boyfriend, photographer and filmmaker Aaron Tredwell. This will be her first appearance at Bates.

Lyle, who specializes in African American literature and queer theory, is a visiting assistant professor at Bates. He received his doctorate in English and cultural studies from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and in 2013 saw his work, “Prolonging ‘Last Call’: Jamaica Kincaid’s Voyeuristic Pleasures in ‘My Brother,'” published in The Journal of West Indian Literature.