Join Portal magazine for an evening of contemporary nonfiction from current students of VIU's Creative Writing program. After the three opening readers and intermission Amanda Lewis will read from Tracking Giants: Big Trees, Tiny Triumphs, and Misadventures in the Forest.
Amanda Lewis was an overachieving, burned-out book editor most familiar with trees as dead blocks of paper. A dedicated "indoorswoman," she could barely tell a birch from a beech. But that didn't stop her from pledging to visit all of the biggest trees in British Columbia, a Canadian province known for its rugged terrain and gigantic trees.
The "Champion" trees on Lewis's ambitious list ranged from mighty Western red cedars to towering arbutus. They lived on remote islands and at the center of dense forests. The only problem? Well, there were many. . .
Climate change and a pandemic aside, Lewis' lack of wilderness experience, the upsetting reality of old-growth logging, the ever-changing nature of trees, and the pressures of her one-year timeframe complicated her quest. Burned out again—and realizing that her "checklist" approach to life might be the problem—she reframed her search for trees to something humbler and more meaningful: getting to know forests in an interconnected way.
Weaving in insights from writers and artists, Lewis uncovers what we’re really after when we pursue the big things—revealing that sometimes it's the smaller joys, the mindsets we have, and the companions we're with that make us feel more connected to the natural world.
Amanda Lewis is an award-winning editor, writer, and publishing strategist living on Gabriola Island. She has edited hundreds of books for clients including Simon & Schuster, House of Anansi, and Penguin Random House. She has direct communication experience in academia, government, non-profits, and co-ops. Amanda was the inaugural Editorial Director for Page Two, and Editor and Associate Managing Editor at Penguin Random House Canada. She is the author of Tracking Giants: Big Trees, Tiny Triumphs, and Misadventures in the Forest (Greystone Books), a bestseller upon release in 2023. Her writing has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Konfekt, Hazlitt, and Quill & Quire.
About our student readers:
Marina McDonald is a third-year Creative Writing and Journalism student. “Apple of My Eye” is one of her first poems. In 2021, she received the Heartstone Foundation Bursary. When she’s not flipping through the pages of a book, she’s flipping around the gymnastics centre where she is a women’s artistic, trampoline, and tumbling gymnastics coach.
Yvonne Salsman is a third-year student in the Early Childhood Education and Care program. Her short story "Birds of a Feather" was published in the 2023 edition of Portal and her non-fiction piece “Grief Blooms Unbidden” appeared in the 2024 issue.
Dax Comba has a BA in Graphic Design and is completing a second in Creative Writing. He has experience recording audio and video and producing professional-quality productions in new and traditional media across platforms. He has completed a 60-page two-act stage play and a 90-page screenplay. He is the AV Manager and a Script Editor for Portal 2025 and is completing an internship for Magazines BC. A work of NF will appear in the upcoming issue of the magazine.
