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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).
Dr. James Glisson is the curator of Contemporary Art at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. His five books, some co-authored and co-edited, have been recognized by the American Library Association, American Alliance of Museums and Choice Magazine, which gave him an Outstanding Academic Title award. Prior to Santa Barbara, he was Interim Virginia Steele Scott Chief Curator and Mishler Associate Curator at The Huntington Library, where he contributed to the establishment of a regular program for contemporary art.
![Abstract painting with a vertical black stripe dividing a large blue section on the left and a large red section on the right, with white bands at the top and bottom edges. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/EP_Adam-Eve-397x225.png)
BY JAMES GLISSON After nearly twenty years in Los Angeles, Frederick Hammersley (1919–2009) moved to Albuquerque in 1968 after accepting a teaching position at the University of New Mexico. By his own account, the move to New Mexico was the best decision he ever made. The change of location did him good, and he soon embarked on what would be his most productive decade, the 1970s.
