The Navigator Sessions
Nanaimo’s very own Andrew Butler of Antler stopped by the Nav office to play us a few tunes and chat about the Nanaimo music scene. Stay tuned for future episodes of The Navigator Sessions where we will be highlighting the very best musical acts that the mid-island scene has to offer! 0:00 – Intro 0:10 … Continued
Beats Beyond Borders
October is a rough month with midterms, assignments, and cool weather kicking in. Luckily for students, there’s a new event this year: Beats Beyond Borders, organized by Cultural Connections. And it’s all about electronic dance music (EDM)! The Beats Beyond Borders Global Electronic Music Festival is a free-admission concert on Thursday, Oct 20 in the … Continued
Leave a Light on for Malaspina Theatre’s Friendly Ghost
The lights turn on. The stage is set. Actors take their place, and the story unfolds. The crowd stands and applause echoes off the theatre’s old walls. The curtains close and I watch as lines of people form, one by one stepping out the doors. I stay behind and wait. No one comes to tell … Continued
Bicycle Film Festival Nanaimo
Do you like cycling? How about film? If you said yes to either, then the Bicycle Film Festival (BFF) is for you. The festival is stopping at VIU’s Nanaimo campus this Saturday, October 1 with evening screenings in Malaspina Theatre. The BFF started in New York in 2001. It’s been to over 100 cities worldwide, … Continued
Hone Your Craft with the VIU Creative Writing Association
Do you enjoy writing fiction, non-fiction, poetry, scripts, or academic essays? Maybe you don’t like writing as much but you love correcting grammar and sentence structure. If any of the above apply to you, VIU’s Creative Writing Association (VCWA) would love to have you. Commonly known as “CREW Club,” VCWA is a weekly meeting run … Continued
The Trials and Tribulations of a Bookworm
I’ve been banned. From getting new books. By me. Why, you might ask? Because I suffer from the age-old problem of readers the world over: too many unread books. I put books on hold at the library. I pick them up. I see interesting options in the ‘New Titles’ and display areas; a few end … Continued
Where Does Creativity Hide?
How do we find our creativity? Inspiration can seem like a skittish adopted cat coming into our home for the first time. As badly as we want to go to it and let it know we’re a friend, it darts away under the couch or the bed every time we get near. No amount of … Continued
Erin Perkins
The start of the 2022 school year has me thinking of beginnings but also traditions. I’m the brand-new Arts Editor for The Navigator. How will I differ from all the past writers who made The Nav what it is today? To answer this question, I needed to speak to a Navigator alum. I met Erin … Continued
Portal 2022
VIU’s student-run and full-colour annual literary magazine is going to be celebrated in-person for the first time in three years thanks to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. The launch of the new issue will celebrate the accomplishments of the nearly 90 VIU student contributors since 2020. Portal 2022, on newsstands across the country in May, … Continued
Aimee Wall’s Debut
This interview first appeared in an episode of Portal Magazine’s Portfolio series on YouTube, and has been edited for written format. * * * I found myself on Giller Prize-nominated author Aimee Wall’s website after my professor said I needed more biographical details for my book review on Wall’s book We, Jane. My eyes landed on … Continued
Susan Juby’s New Book
VIU Creating Writing and Journalism professor Susan Juby said her new book, Mindful of Murder, is a “murder mystery, but it’s a funny one.” The novel, released March 8, is Juby’s twelfth and her “first real big” mystery. She has written mysteries for a Young Adult audience, but this is her first entry with an … Continued
Review: The Visitor
VIU’s Theatre department put on a fantastically creepy adaptation of Friedrich Durrenmatt’s The Visit from March 2–5—and they may have outdone themselves this time. Adapted and written by professor Leon Potter and retitled The Visitor, the university’s theatre students tackled the age-old question of “how far would you go for money?” The play centres around … Continued
Death on the Nile Review
*Spoilers for the 1937 novel and 2022 movie.* I’m usually calm at movie theatres. But during Death on the Nile (2022), I lost it—and not in a good way. Death on the Nile (1937) is my favourite Agatha Christie mystery. I’ve read it three times, presented on it in class, and watched all screen adaptations. … Continued