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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).
Douglas Magnus is the proprietor of Douglas Magnus Studios in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has contributed essays to the anthologies We Came to Santa Fe (Pennywhistle Press) and Turquoise in Mexico and North America (Archetype Publications in association with the British Museum), and is a frequent lecturer on the history of turquoise in the Southwest.
![A man in a denim shirt and jeans stands outdoors on rocky terrain, resting one hand on his hip and the other on his knee, looking to his left. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Living-the-Turquoise-Trail_2-400x225.jpg)
The scattered presence of turquoise along North America’s Turquoise Trails reveals a surprising history. Some of the most notable of these trails originate at the ancient mines of the Cerrillos District near Santa Fe, spanning a millennium and reaching thousands of miles in every direction. Archaeological evidence at the Cerrillos mine sites dates back to at least AD 900, and the materials mined there were traded throughout the Southwest and into Central America.
