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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).
![Woman with brown hair and large round sunglasses sitting in a car. Trees and sky are reflected in her sunglasses. She is looking slightly to the side. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/leahromero_headshot-300x300.jpg)
Leah Romero (opens in a new tab) is a southern New Mexico-born writer based in Las Cruces. She has worked as a journalist in New Mexico since 2018 at various news outlets.
Notes from a guitar and Spanish lyrics float out of the Hotel Santa Fe as the lobby doors open on a Friday, inviting residents and visitors to step inside and travel to Latin America. Accomplished musician Nacha Mendez’s (Chihene Nde Nation) right hand strums her Córdoba wooden guitar, laying down chords and syncopated rhythms. Her rich, full voice enters effortlessly, bringing in Spanish melodies to mix and float across the room.
November 20, 2021, in Valencia County was just another crisp, clear autumn day on the farm for Tiffany Sánchez. As usual, she prepared herself for a full day of working with and training horses at Adelino Legacy Farms, her family’s op-eration. The Sánchez family grows hay on the farm, but Tiffany’s passion is raising and training barrel horses for herself and clients.
