El Martillo Press Exhibits at Fil Guadalajara

El Martillo Press joins forces with Lapicero Rojo Editorial to exhibit at Fil Guadalajara -- the second largest book festival in the world!

Expo Guadalajara

Av. Mariano Otero 1499

Col. Verde Valle, Guadalajara, Jalisco

Authors signing

Matt Sedillo

Sonia Gutiérrez

Rey M. Rodríguez

Matt Sedillo has been described as the "best political poet in America" by investigative reporter Greg Palast as well as "the poet laureate of the struggle" by historian Paul Ortiz. 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. Sedillo was the recipient of the 2017 Joe Hill Labor Poetry award, a panelist at the 2020 Texas book festival, a participant in the 2012 San Francisco International Poetry Festival, the 2022 Elba Poetry Festival, the 2023 Guadalajara Book Fair, 2024 Medellin Poetry Festival, the 2025 Hurlingham Poetry Festival, the 2025 Ghazipur Literary Festival, the 2025 Guadalajara Book Fair and the recipient of the 2022 Dante's Laurel. Sedillo has appeared on CSPAN and has been featured in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Axios, among many other media outlets and publications. Sedillo has spoken at Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba, the National Library of Chile in Santiago Chile, Estadio Nacional in Santiago, Chile, at numerous conferences and forums such as the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, the National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education, the National Association of Chicana/Chicano Studies, the Left Forum, the US Social Forum, and at over a hundred universities and colleges, including UNAM, the University of Cambridge, UC Berkeley, Stanford, the University of Napoli among many others. Matt Sedillo is the author of Mowing Leaves of Grass (FlowerSong Press, 2019) and City on the Second Floor (FlowerSong Press, 2022) and Mexican Style (FlowerSong Press 2025). All of which are taught at universities throughout the US. Sedillo is the current literary director of The Mexican Cultural Institute of Los Angeles, the National Coordinator for the World Poetry Movement US, and host of Radio La Raza on KPFK. 

Sonia Gutiérrez is the author of two full-length bilingual poetry collections, Spider Woman / La Mujer Araña (Olmeca Press, 2013) and Paper Birds: Feather by Feather / Pájaros de papel: Pluma por pluma (El Martillo Press, 2024), recipient of an honorable mention for the ILBA’s The Juan Felipe Herrera Best Poetry Book Award—One Author—Bilingual, and the novel, Dreaming with Mariposas (FlowerSong Press, 2020), winner of the Tomás Rivera Book Award 2021, the International Latino Book Awards 2022, and the ILBA Book into Movie Awards 2023. She teaches composition, critical thinking and writing, and creative writing. Sonia Gutiérrez is currently working on her first illustrated book, The Adventures of a Burrito Flying Saucer and Sana Sana Colita de Rana: Poems to Not Perish / Sana sana colita de rana: Poemas para no morir, a bilingual poetry collection. She lives in the Californias. To learn more about Sonia Gutiérrez and her work, visit www.soniagutierrez.com. 

Rey M. Rodríguez is a writer, advocate, and attorney. He lives in Pasadena, California. He is working on a novel set in Mexico City. He attended the Yale Writers’ Workshop and Palabras de Pueblo workshop. He participated in Story Studio’s Novel in a Year Program. He received his MFA in fiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts in May 2026. His poetry is published in Huizache, Anger is a Gift, and Altadena Poetry Review. His interviews and book reviews can be found at La Bloga, Chapter House’s Storyteller’s Corner, Full Stop, Pleiades Magazine, and the Los Angeles Review. He is a graduate of Cornell, Princeton, and U.C. Berkeley Law School.

FIL Guadalajara

The most outstanding meeting of the Spanish-language publishing world awaits you in Guadalajara, November 28^th to December 6^th, 2026.

For nine days, people willingly stand in long lines to listen to their favorite authors, the book industry makes Guadalajara its beating heart and the whole city is filled with the music, arts, cinema and theatre from the featured Guest of Honor which this year is Italy.

Lapicero Rojo Editorial

Lapicero Rojo es una editorial dirigida por Miguel Alberto Ochoa y se ubica en el norte de México y en el sur de Estados Unidos. Lo que define a Lapicero Rojo es la apertura a encontrarse con temáticas sensibles así como con las oportunidades editoriales para crear una ventana hacia las discusiones actuales. Creemos que los lectores tienen derecho a transitar por el Camino de las Letras y que la literatura tiene espacio para todos, es ahí donde entra nuestro sueño: que todo el mundo lea y que todo el mundo escriba.

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.