El Martillo Press at Cerritos Library

El Martillo Press brings authors Lorna Dee Cervantes, Herbert Siguenza, Donato Martinez, and Margaret Elysia Garcia to Cerritos Library.

Lorna Dee Cervantes

Herbert Siguenza

Margaret Elysia Garcia

Donato Martinez

Born in San Francisco, raised in San José, Barrio Horseshoe, Lorna Dee Cervantes was a self-taught activist by 15, taught herself how to run her own printing press and was Founding Editor/Publisher of MANGO Publications at 20, and author of the American Book Award winning EMPLUMADA at 24.

Herbert Siguenza was recently the Playwright in Residence for the San Diego Repertory Theatre, thanks to a generous grant from the  Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Herbert is also a founding member of the performance group CULTURE CLASH. 

Macondo Fellow Margaret Elysia Garcia is the author of poetry collections Iconistas! (Lit Kit Collective, 2025), the daughterland (El Martillo Press, 2023), and Burn Scars, (Lit Kit Collective, 2022). 

Donato Martinez was born in in small pueblo, Garcia de la Cadena, Zacatecas, Mexico and immigrated into the USA at six years old. He teaches English Composition, Literature, and Creative Writing at Santa Ana College.

Cerritos Library

Cerritos Library is the civic library for the City of Cerritos, California, United States. It was rededicated on March 16, 2002, with the new moniker and the current futuristic design. It features an exterior clad with titanium panels. It has been an affiliate with the Smithsonian Institution since 2000.

El Martillo Press

Founded by Matt Sedillo and David A. Romero, El Martillo Press publishes writers whose pens strike the page with clear intent; words with purpose to pry apart assumed norms and to hammer away at injustice. El Martillo Press proactively publishes writers looking to pound the pavement to promote their work and the work of their fellow pressmates. El Martillo is the builder of bridges and the destroyer of walls.