March 30, 2010 - 7:18am
Publishing students from Vancouver Island University invite everyone to join them and featured guest Kate Braid at the launch celebration of Portal 2010, VIU's literary magazine.
The launch celebrates a year of work by students who take the magazine from idea to hard copy, assuming all the jobs of a real publishing house. Students will read or showcase their works published in the magazine including short stories, poems, photographs, feature articles, essays, and visual art.
Canadian poet and former VIU Creative Writing instructor Kate Braid graces the stage as the guest of honour at the Portal launch thanks to VIU’s Poets on Campus reading series and funding through the Canada Council for the Arts.
In the course of working as a secretary, childcare worker, lumber piler, journeywoman carpenter, construction contractor and a construction and creative writing instructor, Braid has written five books of poetry that have won or been nominated for various prizes including the Pat Lowther Award, the BC Book Prize, the Milton Acorn People’s Poetry Prize and the Vancity Book Prize.
She has also co-edited with Sandy Shreve, the first book of Canadian form poetry, In Fine Form. Kate has published three books of non-fiction, and her poems and personal essays have been widely published and anthologized.
At the Portal launch, Braid will read from two books: A Well-Mannered Storm: The Glenn Gould Poems (Caitlin Publishing, 2008) and Turning Left to the Ladies (Palimpsest, 2009).
Department of Creative Writing and Journalism instructors Steve Guppy, Frank Moher, Kevin Roberts and Rhonda Bailey will also award scholarships to the best creative writing students at VIU.
Portal magazine began in 1991 to showcase the creative talents of VIU students. Since then, student artists have produced an impressive body of work.
The Portal launch takes place in the Royal Arbutus Room (Building 300), Nanaimo campus on April 6 from 2 to 5 pm. Braid’s reading begins at 4 pm. Cellist Allannah Dow along with guitarist and VIU student Evan Westre will entertain attendees with classical music. Appetizers and no host bar will be available.
Contact Eldon Arkinstall at portalmagazine@viu.ca for more information. Visit the new Portal Magazine website at http://web.viu.ca/portal/
Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/PortalMagazine
Join the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com
Tags: In the Community
