El Martillo Press at Melrose Trading Post

El Martillo Press presents authors: Matt Sedillo, Iris De Anda, Ceasar K. Avelar and Margaret Elysia Garcia at the Melrose Trading Post.

Melrose Trading Post

Fairfax High School (Parking Lot)

7850 Melrose Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90046, USA

Watch Matt Sedillo, Iris De Anda, Ceasar K. Avelar and Margaret Elysia Garcia perform and read poetry on the main stage!

Matt Sedillo

Matt Sedillo has been described as the "best political poet in America" as well as "the poet laureate of the struggle." His work has drawn comparisons in print to Bertolt Brecht, Roque Dalton, Amiri Baraka, Allen Ginsberg, Carl Sandburg,  and various other legends of the past.

Iris De Anda

Iris De Anda a Guanaca Tapatia poet, speaker & musician who has been featured with KPFK & KPFA Pacifica Radio, organized with Academy of American Poets, performed at Los Angeles Latino Book Festival, LA Times Festival of Books, UNAM in CDMX, CECUT in Tijuana,Mexico, and Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba.

Ceasar K. Avelar

Ceasar K. Avelar is the second poet laureate of Pomona, CA. His poems speak the truth, not only to people in a position of power, but also to the everyday person that views the working class as a stigmatized identity.

Margaret Elysia Garcia

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).

Melrose Trading Post

The Melrose Trading Post is a pioneering arts-based marketplace held every Sunday at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, CA with 275 local creative small business vendors, delicious food booths and local live music. MTP was founded in 1997 with a mission to champion small businesses, art and community.  The market funds Greenway Arts Alliance’s arts education programming and provides employment and leadership development opportunities for students at Fairfax High School.

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.