April 7, 2014 - 3:00am
VIU’s Portal Magazine Launches 2014 Issue April 10 in Nanaimo
Portal 2014, Vancouver Island University’s full-colour annual literary magazine, will be launched on Thursday April 10th at the Nanaimo Curling Club at 106 Wall St. Doors open at 6:30 pm with the event starting at 7 pm. The free semi-formal public event will be catered, and will include live music by the John Lee Trio and readings by 16 of its contributors as well as award-winning Canadian author Ross King.
Portal 2014 celebrates the talent and diversity of VIU students by publishing the best works of fiction, poetry, non-fiction, scripts, as well as pieces of artwork and photography. Within its 90 pages, Jessica Key conducts an enlightening interview with celebrated Canadian author and poet Michael Crummey, 2013’s Gustafson Distinguished Poetry Chair, best known for his novels River Thieves and Galore. Crummey’s lecture “Burn Barrel: Surviving Poetry in the 21st century” will be published as a chapbook in the Gustafson series this summer.
This year’s collage contest featured original artwork or photography and prose, assembling cut text and images to form an entirely new piece. The winner of the 2014 contest is Coby McDougall for her piece entitled “Expand. Special features include Philip Gordon teaching us “How to Write a Poem for a Girl You Like,” Trevor Cooper detecting a “Murder in the Hundred Acre Wood,” and Samantha Ainsworth waving “Amber” flags. Nearly two dozen pieces comprise this stellar issue.
“Many of the works conveyed a sense of dreamlike wonderment, yet several were also dark and otherworldly. Why so moody? Our tagline, ‘Words to transport you,’ certainly is appropriate for this pensive issue. Are these feelings of uncertainty introspective reflections common to student writers, or an exploratory look into greater truths of the world beyond?” asks Heather Gregory, Portal’s Managing Editor. Pick up a copy to find out...
Since 1991, Portal has been put together by a dedicated class of 20 VIU Creative Writing students who have a hand in all aspects of creating the magazine. From September to April they select the writing and art, make design decisions, develop an online presence, fundraise nearly $8,000 on their own, work one-on-one with contributors on the editorial process, sell ads, and plan its launch. The class works with a third-year photographic design class and professor Ellen McCluskey to mock up over 75 cover ideas, from which one is chosen. This year Reese Patterson designed the cover and returning star Jessica Reid perfected the interior. At the launch, awards will also be presented to 11 outstanding Creative Writing students from across genres.
Portal 2014 will be available for purchase across newsstands in Canada in April for $10. Copies will also be available for purchase at the launch, or $15 if bundled with the 2013 issue, and at Literacy Central Nanaimo, the Nanaimo Art Gallery and the VIU bookstore. Portal will continue to be offered as an e-zine on Amazon.
More information on this year’s issue and launch and from backissues of Portal can be found at:
https://portalmagazine.ca/
facebook.com/portalmag
twitter.com/PortalMagazine
instagram: @PortalMagVIU
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To arrange interviews with contributors or staff or to cover the launch, please contact:
Natalie Golbeck, Publicity viuportal@gmail.com
Joy Gugeler, Publisher (250) 797-2623
Tags: In the Community
