Contributors

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

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

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

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).

Annie Wenstrup

Annie Wenstrup (opens in a new tab) is a Dena’ina writer living in Fairbanks, Alaska. She serves as the donor and alumni relationship coordinator for Indigenous Nations Poets. Wenstrup is the author of The Museum of Unnatural Histories (Wesleyan University Press 2025) and the recipient of a 2025 Whiting Award in poetry. Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, she now lives in Fairbanks with her family. She received her BFA from the University of Fairbanks Alaska and her MFA from Stonecoast.

Bobby Qalutaksraq Brower (Iñupiaq, Utqiag˙vik), Melissa Ahnoorik Ahlooruk Ingersoll (Iñupiaq, Nome), Cassandra Tikasuk Johnson (Unalakleet), Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer (Iñupiaq, Kotzebue), Beverly Tuck (Unangaxˆ, St. Paul Island), Healing Stitches, 2021. Cotton and polyester. Sarah Ayaqi Whalen-Lunn (Iñupiaq), Solidarity, No More Stolen Sisters, and Black Lives Matter, 2020. Digital illustrations on aluminum. Photograph by Blair Clark. Courtesy of Museum of International Folk Art.

Grief’s Outline, Memory’s Shape

BY ANNIE WENSTRUP Amber Webb’s Memorial Qaspeq is a permanent work in progress. Webb is a Yup’ik artist from Dillingham, Alaska, and she draws portraits of Indigenous women on an oversized qaspeq. She adds portraits to the garment as she learns the names and identities of Indigenous women who’ve been killed throughout Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. At over ten feet tall, the qaspeq’s proportions suggest the scope and scale of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) crisis.