El Martillo Press at Melrose Trading Post

El Martillo Press presents a lineup of poets in celebration of Latine Heritage Month!

Lorna Dee Cervantes

Jose "Jozer" Guerrero

Sonia Gutiérrez

Briana Muñoz

Roberto Leni

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.

Jozer Guerrero is a poet/ musician based out of Denver, CO. Jozer’s work has been featured on HBO, MTV, Univision, TED Talks, PBS and American Theater Magazine.

Sonia Gutiérrez is the author of Spider Woman / La Mujer Araña and the recipient of the Tomás Rivera Book Award 2021 and the International Latino Book Awards 2022 for her novel, Dreaming with Mariposas.

Briana Muñoz is a poet from Southern California. She is the author of Loose Lips (Prickly Pear Publishing, 2019), Everything is Returned to the Soil (FlowerSong Press, 2021) and Matriarchy: Sacred Poems (El Martillo Press 2025).

Roberto Emilio Leni Olivares was born in the Chilean port of Valparaíso. His family was exiled to the U.S in 1976 as a result of Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile.  

Melrose Trading Post

For nearly 30 years, Melrose Trading Post has been LA’s Sunday gathering place — 260 local makers, live music on the Greenway Stage, food that’s worth staying for, and the kind of finds you can’t plan for. Every ticket goes directly to free arts education for Fairfax High students. MTP was founded on a simple idea: a thriving local market could support public school students in a meaningful way.  Nearly 30 years later, that idea still works — every Sunday.

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.