PALABRA is about exploration,
risk and ganas—the myriad intersections of thought, language, story and art—el más allá of letters, symbols and
spaces into meaning. It’s about writing that cares as much about language and its structure as about content and storytelling—and
that shows awareness of and attention to the possibilities of both. Mostly it's about work with the emotional fiber that
threads all honest art.
Its purpose is to provide a portal for new threads of pensamiento, language and story, to reach from the past and
present and dive headlong into the future of Chicano & Latino writing—to push it, stretch it, keep it fresh, vibrant,
honest and at the thumping edge of literary creativity and innovation. Its intent is to present an eclectic and adventurous
array of thought and construct, alma y corazón, and a few carcajadas woven in for good measure.
PALABRA seeks to serve writing that sizzles, leaps, spits and spins—that runs backwards and forwards
and sideways and inside out—that wears holey shoes and no socks and plunges fearlessly around blind corners just to
see what’s there. PALABRA invites work that doesn’t
neatly fit the paradigm—or that fits the paradigm and makes it scream (or at least breathe heavily).
