ALOK Is Shepard Symposium on Social Justice Keynote Speaker April 19 at UW

Alok Vaid-Menon, an American writer, performance artist and media personality who performs under the moniker “ALOK,” is the keynote speaker for the University of Wyoming’s Shepard Symposium on Social Justice.

Organizers of UW’s Shepard Symposium are shifting the annual spring symposium to a fall program. During this transitional year, a smaller-scale spring symposium will lead up to a larger event during the fall semester. The event’s theme -- “Social Justice Literacy” -- will be divided into Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 during the current spring semester and next fall, respectively. Chapter 1 is scheduled April 19-22, and Chapter 2 will be Oct. 8-14.

ALOK’s free public presentation is at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, in the UW College of Arts and Sciences auditorium. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and a book signing is scheduled after the presentation.

A livestream of ALOK’s presentation is available through UW’s WyoCast on the symposium’s website at www.shepardsymposium.org. UWYO sign-in is protected.

As a mixed-media artist, ALOK’s work explores themes of trauma, belonging and the human condition, with the author’s books touching upon those subjects: “Femme in Public”; “Beyond the Gender Binary”; and “Your Wound/My Garden.”

As the creator of #DeGenderFashion, a movement to degender fashion and beauty industries, ALOK has been honored as one of Huffington Post’s “Culture Shifters,” NBC’s “Pride 50” and Business Insider’s “Doers.”

Over the past decade, ALOK has toured more than 40 countries, most recently headlining the Vancouver Just for Laughs Comedy Festival and selling out at the Soho Theatre in London and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

ALOK will make their feature film debut in Netflix’s “Absolute Dominion” and, on television, they have appeared on Netflix’s “Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness," HBO’s “Random Acts of Flyness” and “The Trans List.”

The Shepard Symposium has grown from a local grassroots event to an internationally recognized conference. Originally named “The Symposium for the Eradication of Social Inequality,” the annual event was renamed to honor the work of the Shepard family and the memory of their son, Matthew Shepard, a UW student who was murdered in 1998.

For accessibility accommodations and for more information, email shepardsymposium@gmail.com.

For more information and for updates, visit the symposium’s website at www.shepardsymposium.org or follow on Instagram or Facebook.