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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).
Michael Miller was raised in Northern New Mexico. He was the founding director of the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico and director of history and literary arts at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. A writer and poet, he is the author of the award-winning book, Monuments of Adobe, and a contributor to Taos: A Topical History, the recipient of the Lansing Bloom Award. He lives with his wife, Antoinette, on their family farm in La Puebla, New Mexico.
BY MICHAEL MILLER The New Mexico historic property known today as Los Luceros has supported consistent human occupation for about 800 years, according to the archaeological record. Today, that occupation metric is miniscule: the ranger’s lodgings and occasional travelers who bunk in the guest house overlooking a rambunctious stretch of the Rio Grande. (more…)
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Traditional Agriculture Along El Camino Real BY MICHAEL MILLER Native people of the Southwest and Mexico have used the corridor known as El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (The Royal Road of the Inner Province) since prehistoric times. Before the arrival of the Spanish and other European settlers, this important trail system served as a communication and trade network, which was a link to the Aztec Empire and other indigenous civilizations in Mesoamerica.
