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).

Manuelito Wheeler

Manuelito Wheeler was born and raised in the Navajo Nation. He is currently the director of the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona. With many years in the museum field, he has developed a sense of how museums can be more effective as places of understanding and wonder. Wheeler served as an advisor for the Bosque Redondo Memorial at the Fort Sumner Historic Site. He has led his team in creating evocative projects which influence and preserve Navajo culture, including partnerships with major motion picture studios to dub popular movies into the Navajo language. Past projects include dubbing Star Wars IV A New Hope and Finding Nemo in Navajo. Currently, he is working with the National Archives in Washington, D.C. to bring the Navajo Treaty of 1868 to the Navajo Nation Museum for the momentous 150th anniversary.