Community Partner Little Sister’s Book & Art Emporium
Literary readings to tantalize and titillate – aka Catherine and Jim’s dirty porn night. Curated by Ray Hsu. Queerotica started in ’99, when SD (Shaira) Holman approached Janine Fuller at Little Sister’s Bookstore saying – hey you wanna do some queer porn readings to support your anti-censorship case at the Supreme Court; if there’s any proceeds we’ll donate it to the Little Sister’s Defense Fund — you in? Janine jumped on it and a hot time was had by all, so hot that the fabulously talented Elaine Miller took on organizing the erotic readings at the festival and branded it Queerotica. When Little Sister’s eventually won their court case (yay) we started giving the proceeds to the artists. This year we’re back with the subtitle Catherine and Jim’s dirty porn night in honour of our Beloved Catherine White Holman and Jim Deva – porn aficionados and great festival supporters. QAF has many steamy years of Queerotica under its belt with past curators including Elaine Miller, Afuwa Granger, Amber Dawn, and Janine Fuller. Artists: Amber Dawn Rian J. Lloyd Polly Anima Christopher Gatchalian Jillian Christmas Leigh MatthewsMonica MeneghettiRachel RoseRay Hsu
ARTIST BIOS:
Amber Dawn
Amber Dawn is a writer living on unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations (incorporated Vancouver, Canada). Her memoir How Poetry Saved My Life: A Hustler’s Memoir won the 2013 Vancouver Book Award. She is the author of the Lambda Award-winning novel Sub Rosa, and editor of the anthologies Fist of the Spider Women: Fear and Queer Desire and With A Rough Tongue. Amber Dawn was 2012 winner of the Writers’ Trust of Canada Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT writers. She currently teaches creative writing at Douglas College and the University of British Columbia, as well as volunteer mentors at several community-driven art and healing spaces.
Rian J. Lloyd
Rian is a queer, agender, femme hippie. Ey lives in a communal house in East Van with six fantastic people, where ey holds the title and position of House Flirt. A bicycle mechanic by day, Rian spends eir evenings dancing backwards in high-heels (the sparkly, red kind), or curled up at home with eir snake, a cup of tea, and a good book.
Polly Anima
Though new to writing, Polly has a long history of artistic practice and engagement as a performer, creative producer, vocalist, gallerist, copywriter and art therapist. She regrets not being able to add contemporary dancer to the list, but accepts that ship has sailed.
Christopher Gatchalian
C. E. Gatchalian is a playwright, poet and essayist born and based in Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver). In 2013 he was awarded the prestigious Dayne Oglivie Prize by The Writers’ Trust of Canada.
Jillian Christmas
Jillian Christmas (b. 1983; Canada) Born and raised in Markham, Ontario, Christmas grew up watching videos of performance poets such as C.R. Avery and RC Weslowski before taking to the stage herself in her mid-20s. Since then, Christmas earned titles at Vancouver’s Poetry Slam and Bedrocc Poetry Slam competitions, and will be representing Vancouver at the 2014 World Poetry Slam in Austin, Texas. Her work takes many forms, including live poetry performance, poetry/music fusions, and the printed word. Most recently, her work appeared in the anthology The Great Black North: Contemporary African-Canadian Poetry.
Leigh Matthews
Leigh Matthews, also known as L, is a novelist, poet, professional vegan and semi-professional queer living in Vancouver, Canada. She has written two novels: The Old Arbutus Tree; and a modern take on lesbian pulp fiction, Don’t Bang the Barista! Leigh was a participating poet in Art Song Lab 2015, and can be found online at http://www.theinkwell.org/ and @thetastyvegan.
Monica Meneghetti
“We are the hinterqueers, carving out lives far away from urban gay meccas, without benefit of rainbows or parades.” ~ Monica Meneghetti, Plenitude Magazine 2015 Having relocated to Vancouver in search of greater freedom of expression, Monica shares her queer erotic work publicly for the first time. She is a multigenre writer with a penchant for cross-disciplinary collaboration. As a teacher and editor, she has a special interest in enabling marginalized voices to be heard.
Rachel Rose
Rachel Rose has published poems, short stories and essays in Canada, the U.S., New Zealand and Japan. She is the Poet Laureate of Vancouver for 2014-2017, and is currently working on a non-fiction book about police dogs.
Ray Hsu
Ray Hsu (@thewayofray) is author of Anthropy (winner of the Gerald Lampert Award, nominated for the Trillium Book Award in Poetry) and Cold Sleep Permanent Afternoon (winner of the Alcuin Award). He taught in a US prison for over two years, has given a TED talk on creativity and education and is co-founder of Art Song Lab.
Coming with a friend or 3? Get a QAF Flex-Pass. Go to 4 shows, take a friend to two shows, bring a group to one show – at only $69 for a pass, it’s a screamin’ deal. This event is ASL interpreted. To view QAF’s other ASL interpreted events please click HERE. This event is scent-reduced, and fully wheelchair accessible. For more information on how to support a scent-reduced event, please visit PeggyMunson.com For a full accessibility audit of the space, visit Radical Access Mapping Project.