Gathered in this zine is the writing and artwork created by participants of DSTL Arts’s Conchas y Café creative writing classes for adults. Through poetry and short fiction, drawings, and photo composition, these workshops empower participants as the artists they are, helping them develop new skills in storytelling.

The theme for Conchas y Café Zine; Volume 9, Issue 2: Leading Lines is “Through the Lens.” With poetry and photography that explore the concepts of light, darkness, depth of field, perspective, and ekphrasis, our writers and artists explore the various ways in which poetry and photography share the “snapshot” approach to creating art. By creating photos that informed their poetry, and by creating poetry that informed their photos, our community of poet/artists did more than document their realities; they are presenting the world to us through their unique lenses.