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Join us for the last Portfolio Reading Series event of this term as Portal presents an evening of poetry featuring current VIU Creative Writing student Amy Mattes reading from her second published title since enrolling in the program, Separate Ways. It is an honest, humble, and humourous portrayal of dating, marriage, divorce, and parenthood that attempts to resolve the past, while reckoning with the present. According to the author, the contents of this book are cheaper than therapy and more provocative!

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Amy Mattes holds a degree in anti-oppressive social work from the University of Victoria and is working toward a BA in Creative Writing at VIU. Her debut novel Late September won an Independent Publisher bronze medal for Best Regional Fiction East. She also won second place in the Islands Short Fiction Review Contest in 2023 and has been previously published in The Globe and Mail and Portal.

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Our opening readers are:

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Bri Hepner is in her final year of a BA in English from VIU, having taken many Creative Writing course electives. She is working on a graphic memoir and a debut collection of poetry and is a Poetry Editor and member of the social media team for Portal 2026.

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Abby Tredger is a third-year Creative Writing and Journalism student at VIU working as a Poetry Editor and member of the social media team for Portal 2026. Her work “Stories Made of Stones” appeared in The Georgian Bay Gazette and The Bulletin. She is currently a member of the VIU Dance Team, where she is working on fundraising and events. In addition to poetry she write short-form scripts and short stories.

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John Fitzsimmons is a poet whose work has appeared in Sundew magazine and This Side of West. He recently served a term as Poetry Editor for The Warren Undergraduate Review at UVic.

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