Portal 2011 Announcements

This semester I'm enrolled in the publishing class that puts together VIU's literary magazine, Portal. Portal's aim is to give VIU students the opportunity to see their prose, poetry, art, photography, or script in publication. Portal provides the first publication credit for many student writers and looks great in a portfolio!

We're currently seeking submissions, and here is the info for our postcard prose contest and the early bird draw! Deadline for both is November 25. The final deadline for submissions is January 7, 2011.


I encourage student writers to submit their work to Portal—whether you're in the creative writing program or not. It's a daunting experience to put a piece of writing out there, and in my first year I didn't submit anything at all. I thought I couldn't possibly write anything good enough or that anyone would want to pay to read my work. Perhaps I was right at the time, but that shouldn't have stopped me submitting. In my second year I submitted two stories and one of them was published in Portal. I initially wasn't going to submit the piece that made it in to the magazine—once again I thought it wasn't good enough, but a (literal) last second change of heart made all the difference!

So don't hesitate to send us your work, we want to read it, and perhaps you'll make it into Portal too! Any questions? Email portalmagazine@viu.ca, or leave a comment below.

Kaitlyn