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For over a century, El Palacio has been a forum for voices exploring New Mexico’s art, archaeology, history, and landscape. Explore the writers, photographers, historians, and scientists whose perspectives have defined the magazine’s pages—past and present.
Arthur Sze is the current U.S. Poet Laureate. Sze is a poet, translator, and editor. He is the author of twelve books, including Into the Hush, Sight Lines, and others. Sze’s poems have been translated into fifteen languages, and he is the recipient of the National Book Award among many other honors. He lives in Santa Fe.
Deborah Jackson Taffa is a citizen of the Quechan Nation and Laguna Pueblo. Her memoir Whiskey Tender was a 2024 National Book Award Finalist and was longlisted for the 2025 Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Taffa serves as the director of the MFA in creative writing program at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Cara Romero is an award-winning contemporary fine art photographer. An enrolled citizen of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Romero’s expansive oeuvre has been informed by formal training in film, digital, fine art, and commercial photography. She maintains a studio in Santa Fe, regularly participates in Native American art fairs, and was featured in PBS’ Craft in America (2019).
Ana Castillo (opens in a new tab) is a celebrated poet, novelist, short story writer, essayist, editor, playwright, translator, and independent scholar. Castillo was born and raised in Chicago and resides in Southern New Mexico. Learn more about her work at anacastillo.net.
![A full moon shines in a starry night sky above silhouetted mountains with a faint orange glow on the horizon. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/iStock-162515751-400x225.jpg)
Ana Castillo What Is Your Writing Process? With mop in one hand,cocktail in the other,at 9:00 a.m. or night,flies swatted,roach corpses swept.Lola Beltrán belts “Mi ranchito”through the house speakersfrom room to room.I hum off key.Mares fed, dogs let out,sun beating on the flat roof,moon rising behind a cloud—verses take form. If I Pray One morning I heard on the radio a boy named Trayvon was shot dead.Bent over, slipping on shoes, vertigo took hold.
