Van Island Artist Summer Talk Series

Join the Eavesdrop team for an inspiring online summer talk series featuring local queer artists from Vancouver Island!

Every Monday between June 9th and July 14th, from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm PST, Eavesdrop will host a virtual artist talk. Each session will be on a different topic in the areas of either literary or visual arts. Dive in with queer, local artists as they talk about craft, their journeys, and the industry. Come to one talk, come to them all, we are happy to have you as often as you can come!

These sessions are all free, but donations toward future Eavesdrop programming are warmly welcome. Register early as the sessions have a capacity limit, and please return your ticket if you can no longer attend so someone waiting can join :)

You will receive the meeting link information after registration ~

If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at eavesdroplitmagazine@gmail.com

Talk Series Topics and Artists

June 9th
“Erasure Poetry” with Claire Miller-Harder.

Claire Miller-Harder is a writer living on Vancouver Island. She holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia and she is the managing editor at Eavesdrop Magazine. Her writing has appeared in The Capilano Review, Room and filling Station, and her poem “Dishwashing” is cited among Notable Poems in Best Canadian Poetry 2020. Working in many forms and genres, her writing explores themes of belonging, grief, and the supernatural.

June 16th
“An introduction to writing for young adults” with Larissa Piva

Larissa is a queer artisan and writer living on the traditional unceded territories of the Quw’utsun peoples. She has a Double BA from UVic and an MFA from UBC, with experience in content writing, and she currently works as a grant writer for a local charity. Her writing explores how internal conflict impacts navigating complex love and relationships. She enjoys creating bold characters and multi-perspective stories, especially for young adults. When she isn’t working on her crafts, you can find her snacking with her wife while admiring the holes her little pup manages to dig. You can learn more about her craft at www.larissapiva.ca

June 23
“Integrating Comedy Into Writing” with Julya Van der sloot

Julya is a writer and comedian based in BC. She has performed comedy at Rifflandia Festival, Just for Laughs Vancouver, Seattle International Comedy Competition and more. In addition to comedy, she writes poetry and creative non-fiction, and is passionate about the role of comedy writing across all genres.

June 30
“Spoken word poetry and the importance of community spaces” With Lena Mutafov

Lena Mutafov is an interdisciplinary artist focusing on spoken word poetry, writing, photography, comedy, and music. Her writing has been published in Plenitude, Eavesdrop, and Sea and Cedar Magazine, and she has featured as a spoken word poet for Victoria Poetry Project in 2023 and 2025.

July 7th
“From 9-to-5 to Freelance: What I’ve Learned as a Freelance Artist” with Heather Curtis

Heather Curtis is an illustrator and designer with a background in graphic design and studio arts, including painting, printmaking, and drawing. She also explores digital painting. Living with dyslexia, Heather values illustration as a way to tell stories visually. Her work aims to inspire and uplift. Recently discovering her Indigenous ancestry, she’s learning more about her roots. Originally from Vancouver, she now enjoys the relaxed pace and beauty of the Comox Valley. Heather loves neon, sci-fi, board games, and sharing dad jokes—hoping her art and humor bring joy to others. She works full-time as a freelance designer and artist.

July 14th
“History, Memory, Trauma: Poetry and Publishing as Mutable Historiography of Self" with lucía m. Polis

Lucía M. Polis (she/her) is a neuroqueer Canadian poet, translator, and editor from Moscow, U.S.S.R. She holds a Ph.D. in translation studies from the University of Calgary and she is the founder of JLRB Press. She has been writing and translating poetry since 1996. Her writing has appeared in Uprooted and The Liar and she has written more than 1,000 poems, some of which have appeared in her collections Granville, We Were Hateful People, and The Love of a Good Man.