The 2012 contributors will do just what the tagline says—transport you to places around the world and through the stages of life.
Samantha Ainsworth — Samantha Ainsworth has had poetry and fiction published in Island Writer Magazine, Out of the Warm Land, and Verse and Vision. She was short-listed for Vancouver’s West End Writers’ contest, and “Slack your Rope…” placed first in the 2010 Victoria Writers’ Society contest.
Laura Baldwinson — Laura Baldwinson is a first-year student working towards a BA while she figures out what her future holds. She loves creating unique and beautiful images through photography. Her work appears at facebook.com/laurabaldwinsonphotography.
Kristie Bush — Kristie Bush is a first-year Visual Arts student with an interest in painting and sculpture. Her work has appeared in the Oceanside Art Gallery student show and she received the Ballenas Secondary School Art Senior award in 2010 and 2011.
Michael Calvert — Michael Calvert is working toward a BA in Creative Writing and Journalism. He has been published in Synergy Magazine and the Navigator and received the Barry Broadfoot Award for Creative Non-fiction and Journalism in 2011.
Taralyn Cooper — Taralyn Cooper is a third-year Creative Writing student. Her poem “The Guiding Light” was published in the June 2008 issue of the Calgary Urban Project Society’s Street Talk newspaper.
Debbie De Carvalho — Debbie de Carvalho has a Web Design Certificate from Mount Royal University-College and is currently working toward a Creative Writing degree at VIU. Serenity Roulstone, who has given her much advice on her creative work, is her mentor.
Jennifer Fink — Jennifer Fink is a third-year student and the recipient of the 2011 Jason Hayes Memorial Award for Publishing. She is currently working as an intern for Eaglecrest Books and plans to pursue a career in the publishing industry.
Mary Fraughton — Mary Fraughton grew up travelling the Yukon’s mountains by dogsled. She aims to grow old travelling them by foot and telling their stories to anyone who will listen. Between adventures, she studies Creative Writing.
Dani Gamble — Dani Gamble is a fourth-year BA student with a Creative Writing major. She is a self-taught artist, working with acrylics. She is excited to graduate in the spring and aspires to be a children’s fiction author.
Melanie Godel — Melanie Godel is in her fourth year of Visual Arts and Creative Writing and has won the Art & Design Award of Excellence in Photography, the Pat Bevan Scholarship for Fiction, and the David Lambert Memorial Prize for Ceramics. Visit her blog at melaniegodel.blogspot.com.
Shaleeta Harper — Shaleeta Harper is a third-year student majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in Visual Arts and English. She has a love of words, art, baking, and birds and hopes to pursue her interest in publishing.
Arlen Hogarth — Arlen Hogarth is a second-year Visual Arts student. His comic “What To Do With My Life” appeared in Portal 2011, and his artwork has been featured online on HorrorSleazeTrash and deviantART. He recently won a 250 mL carton of chocolate milk from a scratch-and-win.
Pip Knott — Pip Knott is a fourth-year Graphic Design student with a diploma in Interior Design. Whenever her crazy schedule permits, she has a camera in hand to document her surroundings.
Liz Laidlaw — Liz Laidlaw is a fourth-year student in Creative Writing. She is also a columnist for Relational Child & Youth Care Practice, a past winner of the Nanaimo Arts Council Short Fiction Contest, and received the Meadowlark Award for Fiction in 2011.
Zoe Lauckner — Zoe Lauckner is a photographer, audio producer, musician, writer, and Web designer. She is currently interning at both CBC Victoria and RockStar magazine in Surrey, and her pieces “In the Light” and “Regrets” appeared in the Nanaimo Art Gallery’s “Datastream 4” exhibition.
Carley Lee — Carley Lee’s love of writing stems from her love of reading, and she hopes to give readers the experience of getting lost in a great story. This is her first appearance in Portal.
Renée Masur — Renée Masur is a fourth-year student working her way through a Creative Writing degree. Her work can be found in anthologies published by Arts Angels Publishing, as well as Ten Old Books and Portal 2010, 2011, and 2012. She is the Community Manager for Sokanu.
Drew McLachlan — Drew McLachlan is a second-year Creative Writing student and freelance journalist. He enjoys writing features, scripts, and the unknown. He aspires to work in the magazine industry.
Gisèle Merlet — Gisèle Merlet is a senior student with a BA in Liberal studies, currently working toward a major in English. She is a self-proclaimed “life-long learner” and embraces the joy of learning.
Tamu Miles — Tamu Miles has worked as Arts Editor for the Navigator and has written articles for Island Parent Magazine. She received the 2010 Myrtle Bergren Creative Writing Award and the 2011 Meadowlark Award for Fiction.
Kyle Miller — Kyle Miller is a visual artist, specializing in steampunk and science fiction-styled woodworking. His work has been featured on the tech-culture blogs Boing Boing and The Steampunk Workshop. He was a featured artist at the Victoria Steam Exposition II in 2011.
Alexander Peterson — Alexander Peterson studies Creative Writing, with a focus on science fiction and fantasy. His blog is at rosewoodfiction.tumblr.com and he can be contacted at alexanderpeterson@hotmail.ca.
Jess Reale — Jess Reale is in her second year majoring in both Creative Writing and English. She is previously unpublished, but has received critical acclaim from her husband and two basset hounds.
Francesca Reside — Francesca Reside is a fourth-year Visual Arts and Theatre student. Specializing in painting and photography, she was awarded the 2011 Edward Goodall Scholarship in Painting, and is expanding her photography portfolio and clientele.
Liam Robichaud — Liam Robichaud is a fourth-year Music and Business student, with an interest in creative writing. He held a position as New Editor for the Navigator and has had poetry published in Portal 2011 and VIU’s Poetree.
Mathew Snowie — Mathew Snowie writes movie reviews for the Navigator and on Twitter @CharlieReviews. His play, The Movie Addicts, was performed in the VIU Satyr Players’ 2012 One Act Festival and he continues to spend more time thinking about movies than breathing.
Fiona Southworth — Fiona Southworth has had art published in Portal 2011. Now in her fourth year of a Creative Writing major, In the Attic is her first prose publication.
Kaitlyn Till — Kaitlyn Till is a fourth-year student previously published in Portal, Pages of Stories, and the Navigator. She received the 2011 Meadowlark Award for Fiction, and the Robert Ross Memorial Scholarship. She works at the Navigator and is the Managing Editor of Portal 2012.
Jacqueline Yeo — Jacqueline Yeo is currently in her final year of the Creative Writing program. Passionate about copy-editing, as well as writing fiction and creative non-fiction, she eagerly awaits her post-grad writing career.
Portal 2012
The 2012 contributors will do just what the tagline says—transport you to places around the world and through the stages of life.
Samantha Ainsworth — Samantha Ainsworth has had poetry and fiction published in Island Writer Magazine, Out of the Warm Land, and Verse and Vision. She was short-listed for Vancouver’s West End Writers’ contest, and “Slack your Rope…” placed first in the 2010 Victoria Writers’ Society contest.
Laura Baldwinson — Laura Baldwinson is a first-year student working towards a BA while she figures out what her future holds. She loves creating unique and beautiful images through photography. Her work appears at facebook.com/laurabaldwinsonphotography.
Kristie Bush — Kristie Bush is a first-year Visual Arts student with an interest in painting and sculpture. Her work has appeared in the Oceanside Art Gallery student show and she received the Ballenas Secondary School Art Senior award in 2010 and 2011.
Michael Calvert — Michael Calvert is working toward a BA in Creative Writing and Journalism. He has been published in Synergy Magazine and the Navigator and received the Barry Broadfoot Award for Creative Non-fiction and Journalism in 2011.
Taralyn Cooper — Taralyn Cooper is a third-year Creative Writing student. Her poem “The Guiding Light” was published in the June 2008 issue of the Calgary Urban Project Society’s Street Talk newspaper.
Debbie De Carvalho — Debbie de Carvalho has a Web Design Certificate from Mount Royal University-College and is currently working toward a Creative Writing degree at VIU. Serenity Roulstone, who has given her much advice on her creative work, is her mentor.
Jennifer Fink — Jennifer Fink is a third-year student and the recipient of the 2011 Jason Hayes Memorial Award for Publishing. She is currently working as an intern for Eaglecrest Books and plans to pursue a career in the publishing industry.
Mary Fraughton — Mary Fraughton grew up travelling the Yukon’s mountains by dogsled. She aims to grow old travelling them by foot and telling their stories to anyone who will listen. Between adventures, she studies Creative Writing.
Dani Gamble — Dani Gamble is a fourth-year BA student with a Creative Writing major. She is a self-taught artist, working with acrylics. She is excited to graduate in the spring and aspires to be a children’s fiction author.
Melanie Godel — Melanie Godel is in her fourth year of Visual Arts and Creative Writing and has won the Art & Design Award of Excellence in Photography, the Pat Bevan Scholarship for Fiction, and the David Lambert Memorial Prize for Ceramics. Visit her blog at melaniegodel.blogspot.com.
Shaleeta Harper — Shaleeta Harper is a third-year student majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in Visual Arts and English. She has a love of words, art, baking, and birds and hopes to pursue her interest in publishing.
Arlen Hogarth — Arlen Hogarth is a second-year Visual Arts student. His comic “What To Do With My Life” appeared in Portal 2011, and his artwork has been featured online on HorrorSleazeTrash and deviantART. He recently won a 250 mL carton of chocolate milk from a scratch-and-win.
Pip Knott — Pip Knott is a fourth-year Graphic Design student with a diploma in Interior Design. Whenever her crazy schedule permits, she has a camera in hand to document her surroundings.
Liz Laidlaw — Liz Laidlaw is a fourth-year student in Creative Writing. She is also a columnist for Relational Child & Youth Care Practice, a past winner of the Nanaimo Arts Council Short Fiction Contest, and received the Meadowlark Award for Fiction in 2011.
Zoe Lauckner — Zoe Lauckner is a photographer, audio producer, musician, writer, and Web designer. She is currently interning at both CBC Victoria and RockStar magazine in Surrey, and her pieces “In the Light” and “Regrets” appeared in the Nanaimo Art Gallery’s “Datastream 4” exhibition.
Carley Lee — Carley Lee’s love of writing stems from her love of reading, and she hopes to give readers the experience of getting lost in a great story. This is her first appearance in Portal.
Renée Masur — Renée Masur is a fourth-year student working her way through a Creative Writing degree. Her work can be found in anthologies published by Arts Angels Publishing, as well as Ten Old Books and Portal 2010, 2011, and 2012. She is the Community Manager for Sokanu.
Drew McLachlan — Drew McLachlan is a second-year Creative Writing student and freelance journalist. He enjoys writing features, scripts, and the unknown. He aspires to work in the magazine industry.
Gisèle Merlet — Gisèle Merlet is a senior student with a BA in Liberal studies, currently working toward a major in English. She is a self-proclaimed “life-long learner” and embraces the joy of learning.
Tamu Miles — Tamu Miles has worked as Arts Editor for the Navigator and has written articles for Island Parent Magazine. She received the 2010 Myrtle Bergren Creative Writing Award and the 2011 Meadowlark Award for Fiction.
Kyle Miller — Kyle Miller is a visual artist, specializing in steampunk and science fiction-styled woodworking. His work has been featured on the tech-culture blogs Boing Boing and The Steampunk Workshop. He was a featured artist at the Victoria Steam Exposition II in 2011.
Alexander Peterson — Alexander Peterson studies Creative Writing, with a focus on science fiction and fantasy. His blog is at rosewoodfiction.tumblr.com and he can be contacted at alexanderpeterson@hotmail.ca.
Jess Reale — Jess Reale is in her second year majoring in both Creative Writing and English. She is previously unpublished, but has received critical acclaim from her husband and two basset hounds.
Francesca Reside — Francesca Reside is a fourth-year Visual Arts and Theatre student. Specializing in painting and photography, she was awarded the 2011 Edward Goodall Scholarship in Painting, and is expanding her photography portfolio and clientele.
Liam Robichaud — Liam Robichaud is a fourth-year Music and Business student, with an interest in creative writing. He held a position as New Editor for the Navigator and has had poetry published in Portal 2011 and VIU’s Poetree.
Mathew Snowie — Mathew Snowie writes movie reviews for the Navigator and on Twitter @CharlieReviews. His play, The Movie Addicts, was performed in the VIU Satyr Players’ 2012 One Act Festival and he continues to spend more time thinking about movies than breathing.
Fiona Southworth — Fiona Southworth has had art published in Portal 2011. Now in her fourth year of a Creative Writing major, In the Attic is her first prose publication.
Kaitlyn Till — Kaitlyn Till is a fourth-year student previously published in Portal, Pages of Stories, and the Navigator. She received the 2011 Meadowlark Award for Fiction, and the Robert Ross Memorial Scholarship. She works at the Navigator and is the Managing Editor of Portal 2012.
Jacqueline Yeo — Jacqueline Yeo is currently in her final year of the Creative Writing program. Passionate about copy-editing, as well as writing fiction and creative non-fiction, she eagerly awaits her post-grad writing career.