El Martillo Press @ North Figueroa Bookshop
Sat, Jul 01
|North Figueroa Bookshop
Join El Martillo Press authors: Donato Martinez and Ceasar K. Avelar at North Figueroa Bookshop in Los Angeles! This event will be hosted by El Martillo Press co-founders Matt Sedillo and David A. Romero.
Time & Location
Jul 01, 2023, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM PDT
North Figueroa Bookshop, 6040 N Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90042, 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
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
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.
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.
El Martillo Press
Instagram: @elmartillopress
Donato Martinez
Instagram: @donatomartinez1
Ceasar K. Avelar
Instagram: @ceasarkavelar
Matt Sedillo
Instagram: @matt_sedillo
David A. Romero
Instagram: @davidaromerospokenword