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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).
Brian D. Vallo (opens in a new tab) is a former resident of Santa Fe, and served as director of the Indian Arts Research Center at the School for Advanced Research and as a member of the Santa Fe Arts Commission, Santa Fe Community Foundation Board of Directors, and Chamiza Foundation. He served as the governor of the Pueblo of Acoma from 2019-2021.
![A view of ancient stone ruins in a desert landscape, partially surrounded by low vegetation and rocky terrain, with distant cliffs and a river in the background. [gen-ai]](https://elpalacio.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/11-2-1-400x225.jpg)
By Brian D. Vallo, Governor of Acoma My connection to sacred space and topography, including places like Wáphra’ba’shúka (Chaco Canyon), begins before birth, through many generations of ancestors whose prayers established the foundation for this distinct affinity. The bloodline of those who settled and engaged with the vast hallowed landscape is the same blood that runs through my own being as an Acoma man, in this present time.
