El Martillo Press @ Burbank Public Library

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

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

Margaret Elysia Garcia

Instagram: @writerchickmama

Donato Martinez

Instagram: @donatomartinez1

Ceasar K. Avelar

Instagram: @ceasarkavelar

Matt Sedillo

Instagram: @matt_sedillo

David A. Romero

Instagram: @davidaromerospokenword