Ladies Night El Martillo Press at The Goddess Mercado Bazaar

The Goddess Mercado Bazaar hosts El Martillo Press for its first LADIES NIGHT celebrating mujeres! With open mic! Hosted by Felicia 'Fe' Montes!

The Goddess Mercado Bazaar

424 W Whittier Blvd

Montebello, CA 90640, USA

Featuring:

Sonia Gutiérrez

Margaret Elysia Garcia

Natalie Sierra

Jesenia Chavez

Hosted by Felicia 'Fe' Montes!

With a limited open mic!

$5 admission to support The Goddess Mercado Bazaar

All are welcome to attend. The open mic will be reserved for women and femmes ONLY.

Felicia 'Fe' Montes

Felicia ‘Fe’ Montes (M.A./M.F.A.) is a MeXicana Indigenous holistic artivist, femcee, designer, poet, professor, public scholar, and practitioner of the healing arts from East Los Angeles. She is the co-founder and director of Mujeres de Maiz, In Lak Ech, Botanica del Barrio and El MERCADO y Mas and an Assistant Professor in Chicanx/Latinx Arts and Social Practice at Cal State University Long Beach. She has published in the books Fleshing the Spirit, Voices from the Ancestors, and MeXicana Fashions and is the co editor of the book Mujeres de Maiz en Movimiento: Spiritual Artivism, Healing Justice and Feminist Praxis (University of Arizona Press, 2024) www.FeliciaMontes.com

Sonia Gutiérrez

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. 

Margaret Elysia Garcia

Macondo fellow Margaret Elysia Garcia is the author of the poetry collection the daughterland (El Martillo Press, 2023), of the short story collection Graft (Tolsun Books, 2022), and the poetry chapbooks Iconistas!, and Burn Scars, (Lit Kit Collective, 2025, 2022). She’s the co-editor of the anthology Red Flag Warning: Mutual Aid and Survival in California’s Fire Country (AK Press, 2025). Her second short story collection Chicana Noir and Other Stories will be published in 2026 by El Martillo Press. She's the recipient of Chapman University's non-tuition fellowship for Creative Writing.

Natalie Sierra

Natalie Sierra (she/they) is the third poet laureate of Pomona, California. She is a poet, author, and editor. Her work has been featured in Westwind: A Journal of the Arts (UCLA), Medium, the Los Angeles Times, and more. Natalie is also the author of the poetry collection Medusa (DSTL Arts, 2020), of which her poem “Medusa Is My Sister” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Natalie followed that with her debut novel Charlie, Forever and Ever (FlowerSong Press, 2021). Natalie’s second novel, Beyond the Grace of God was published in 2025. Besides her work as an author and editor, Natalie is the president of Café Con Libros Press, a nonprofit bookstore in downtown Pomona.

Jesenia Chavez

Jesenia Chávez is a proud Chicanita, public-school teacher, writer, poet and storyteller. She has kept a diary since elementary school, and it is filled with witty observations on the life of a little Mexican girl in Southeast Los Angeles who keeps losing her chanclas. Her writing is inspired by her parents’ migration to Los Angeles from Chihuahua, México, [#abolishice] her teaching career, her sense of loss in the rapidly changing landscape of Los Angeles, and all the small moments in between when she can catch her breath and put pen to paper. She also co-hosts Que Me Cuentas (What can you tell me): A Latinx storytelling podcast.  She believes in the healing power of storytelling, poetry, dancing, nature and lots of hugs.