Join editor of El Palacio, Emily Withnall, and fall issue contributors Jamie Figueroa, Laura Paskus, Santana Shorty, Jason Asenap, and Jeanette DeDios, as they discuss how historic relationships with the land can inform our future, what it means to look with more intention and care, and how art and action can be subversive within systems and communities.

These five writers will be touching on the details from their articles, including reflections on how the Rio Grande has been altered in the past century, subversive Hopi storytelling in film, hydroponic agricultural education for Indigenous students, resistance and community in Puerto Rico, and the political power in domestic arts. In a time when our connections to storytelling, the land, and each other, have become fragmented or broken, El Palacio contributors will be in conversation about how to break through the noise and reconnect with what matters. An audience Q&A will follow the discussion.

Copies of the Fall 2026 issue of El Palacio, featuring the panelists’ articles, will be available for sale. In addition, SITE SANTA FE will be selling books by Jamie Figueroa and Laura Paskus. Please come early for coffee and refreshments!

About the Contributors

Jamie Figueroa is the author of Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer and Mother Island. Her work explores memory, inherited silence, language, identity, and creative sovereignty. A Boricua (Latine-Black-Indigenous) writer and educator, she teaches at IAIA.

Laura Paskus is a writer and producer in Albuquerque. She's the author of At the Precipice: New Mexico’s Changing Climate and editor of Water Bodies. She's currently working on a new book about New Mexico’s rivers and wetlands—and visions for their wild futures.

Santana Shorty is a writer and poet and received an MFA from IAIA. Her work focuses on landscape, culture, and love, and has been published in New Mexico Magazine, El Palacio, and Water Bodies. She is a member of the Navajo Nation and lives in Santa Fe.

Jason Asenap is a Comanche and Muscogee writer based in Albuquerque.

Jeanette DeDios is a journalist and filmmaker from the Jicarilla Apache and Diné Nations. She works as a radio journalist for Albuquerque’s public radio station KUNM. She’s currently pursuing an MFA in nonfiction at UNM.