Launch of Portal 2008

The Malaspina University-College (MUC) Portal publishing class worked extremely hard to produce yet another unique edition of the literary magazine that represents Malaspina’s creative community.

The Portal 2008 launch will take place in the Royal Arbutus Room above the upper cafeteria in building 300, on April 8, from 2 to 5 pm The event is also the end of term celebration for the Creative Writing and Journalism department. Scholarships will be awarded, and Malaspina students published in Portal will read their work. There will be an assortment of food, door prizes, and the hard-working Portal students will be selling Portal – fresh off the press.

The Canada Council for the Arts is sponsoring performance poet baba brinkman to help celebrate the launch. brinkman will kick off National Poetry Month with this reading of his popular “The Rap Canterbury Tales,” which has been nominated for and received multiple awards, and has been recorded as an audio CD and published as an illustrated paperback by Vancouver’s Talon Books. brinkman began his rap career at the age of nineteen. His rap version of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales stays as close as it can to the original version, while completely updating the language and following rap rhyme schemes and rhythms.

“I see Chaucer and rap as links in a chain that stretches back to the shared roots of oral traditions,” brinkman writes on his webpage. “By connecting them I hope to demonstrate and celebrate rap’s potential as a lyrical and literary art form, and also bring Chaucer back to brilliant sonic life. I also did this because Chaucer’s sense of humour is wickedly rude, and I could hardly imagine a better use of my rhyme skills.”

Portal Marketing Manager Ian Poschenrieder says the launch is going to reflect the medieval era. “On a scale of one to ten, it’s going to be awesome. Join us for an amazing performance and some great readings.”  

A feature story on 2007 Ralph Gustafson Distinguished Poet Tom Wayman will be in this year’s magazine along with an assortment of unique student-produced poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and visual arts and photography.

Managing Editor Brenna Scott says she’s excited about the quality of this year’s magazine. “This year I think we really took advantage of the excellent opportunity Portal provides and experimented with the design and layout, crossing borders on the page and in life.”

Portal students say they couldn’t have pulled it off without the help of their wonderful instructor Rhonda Bailey, their advertisers, contributors, donors, and other instructors. Portal students all agree the final step now is to share a piece of their hard work with everyone. Admission is free.

For more information, please contact Portal publicist Ashley Gaudreault at (250) 701-5901 or ashleygaudreault@hotmail.com