El Martillo Press @ Beast Crawl (Make Westing)
Sat, Jul 22
|Make Westing
Join El Martillo Press authors: Paul S. Flores, Margaret Elysia Garcia, Ceasar K. Avelar, and Donato Martinez at Beast Crawl Lit Fest in Oakland! This event will be hosted by El Martillo Press co-founders Matt Sedillo and David A. Romero.
Time & Location
Jul 22, 2023, 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM PDT
Make Westing, 1741 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94612, USA
About the event
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. There is strength in El Martillo. Founded in Los Angeles in 2023 by Matt Sedillo and David A. Romero, and launched with a diverse group of celebrated and hardworking writers who embody our working-class intellectual spirit, El Martillo Press maintains an editorial board that makes its selections for publishing.
Authors
Paul S. Flores is a San Francisco artist of Mexican and Cuban-American heritage that has built a national reputation for interview-based theater and bilingual spoken word. He integrates Latino and indigenous healing practices to tell the stories of real people impacted by immigration and systemic inequalities. Flores appeared on Season 4 of HBO's Def Poetry. His first full-length book of poetry, WE STILL BE: Poems and Performances was published by El Martillo Press in June 2023.
Margaret Elysia Garcia is the author of the short story collection Graft, the chapbook Burn Scars, and the daughterland (El Martillo Press, 2023). She’s the co-editor of the anthology Red Flag Warning: Northern Californians Living with Fire out on HeyDay Books in 2024. She writes about family, culture and surviving climate change disasters.
Ceasar K. Avelar is the current Poet Laureate of Pomona. He is the writer in residence of Cafe con Libros Press, and the founder of Obsidian Tongues open mic. Avelar writes through the sociological lens of a blue-collar worker. He is the author of God of the Air Hose and Other Blue-Collar Poems (El Martillo Press, 2023). Avelar will graduate this summer from Cal Poly Pomona with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology.
Donato Martinez was born in the 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. He has also taught classes in Chicano Studies. He has a self-published collection with three other Inland Empire poets, Tacos de Lengua. His full collection of poetry, Touch the Sky, was published by El Martillo Press in June 2023.
Co-founders
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, Alan Ginsberg, Carl Sandburg and various other legends of the past.
David A. Romero is a Mexican-American spoken word artist from Diamond Bar, CA. Romero is the author of My Name Is Romero (FlowerSong Press), a book reviewed by Gustavo Arellano (¡Ask a Mexican!), Curtis Marez (University Babylon), and founding member of Ozomatli, Ulises Bella.
El Martillo Press
Instagram: @elmartillopress
Paul S. Flores
Instagram: @p.flo_sf
Margaret Elysia Garcia
Instagram: @writerchickmama
Donato Martinez
Instagram: @donatomartinez1
Ceasar K. Avelar
Instagram: @ceasarkavelar
Matt Sedillo
Instagram: @matt_sedillo
David A. Romero
Instagram: @davidaromerospokenword