Events

Parabola gathers the wisdom of the world’s spiritual traditions to illuminate the central questions of life.

Although the essay holds the central role at DPA, we are open to other genres, including experimental, poetry and flash non-fiction, as long as there is a first-person point of view.

Submit pieces that showcase the yearning for the familiar; be it the native languages echoing through childhood homes, the nostalgia for one's home country, or the recollections of cherished towns.

Send us your best scary poems and stories inspired by the world’s polytheistic mythologies and spiritual traditions.

The name Superpresent conveys multiple meanings. It could be something very much in the here and now, or something beyond the present state of being or thinking, or something surreal, or it could simply be a great and wonderful gift.

Maybe the sight of someone in official duds turns you on—or maybe it fills you with apprehension.

Sobbing over a simulation? Same. Whether you fancy Fortnite or farm simulators, GTA or girlsgogames.com, the game is on.

Show us the gooiness and silence of the inside of a chrysalis and the relief and horror of emerging from it.

What is a "Giant Robot" theme? For this project, the term "Giant Robots" can include examples of technologies in timelines both real and imagined, and of any size or (even formless) form.

Send us your secrets or the aftermath of revealing them. Define and redefine what a secret is or can be. 

This instrument has inspired countless tales, including the legend of Robert Johnson selling his soul at the crossroads in exchange for guitar virtuosity.
We want your guitar-related poetry, creative non-fiction, flash fiction, and short stories.

Send work that responds thematically in compelling and surprising ways.

We are inspired by poet Marianne Moore: “I am governed by the pull of the sentence as the pull of fabric is governed by gravity.”

We encourage submissions of minimal sonnets and the related minison poetry forms but we also now accept closed-form poetry of any kind, including haikus, sestinas, pantoums, and, of course, traditional sonnets.

What is at stake in claiming “lesbian” as an identity, as a politics, and/or as an analytic? How does the figure of “the lesbian” circulate in debates about identity?

We seek work that represents and invigorates the diversity of contemporary poetry and demonstrates literary excellence whether it be lyric, free verse, prose, or experimental form.

What is prayer and how does it work? Do we pray TO or FOR something?

What is a City to you? A holiday destination? A treasure trove of art and culture? A hotbed of sin and vice?

Themes include, but are not limited to--family, self-realization, and legacy.

Companions take on many forms—human, animal, object, or ideas and memories.