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. Founded in Los Angeles in 2023 by Matt Sedillo and David A. Romero, El Martillo Press launched with a diverse group of celebrated and hardworking writers who embody its working-class intellectual spirit.
El Martillo Press authors reading with Margaret Elysia Garcia (the daughterland), Ceasar K. Avelar (God of the Air Hose and Other Blue-Collar Poems), and Donato Martinez (Touch the Sky). El Martillo Press co-founders Matt Sedillo and David A. Romero will introduce their authors.
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.
Greg Palast is known for his investigative reports for The Guardian, BBC Television, Rolling Stone and his string of New York Times bestsellers including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Billionaires & Ballot Bandits. His latest film, “Vigilante: Georgia’s Vote Suppression Hitman” is narrated by Rosario Dawson and produced by Martin Sheen. “Doggedly independent, undaunted by power. [Palast’s] stories bite, they’re so relevant they threaten to alter history.” — Chicago Tribune. Palast and his hat have been seen on over 2000 media appearances. Pacifica Radio Network broadcasts his weekly Election Crimes Bulletin. Palast is known for complex undercover investigations, spanning five continents, from the Arctic to the Amazon, from the Congo to California, using the skills he learned over two decades as an investigator of corporate fraud on behalf of the US Dept of Justice, 20 attorneys general and governments from England to Brazil. Palast, who earned his degree in finance at the University of Chicago studying under Milton Friedman, has led investigations of multi-billion-dollar frauds in the oil, nuclear, power and finance industries for governments on three continents, has an academic side: he is the author of Democracy and Regulation, a seminal treatise on energy corporations and government control, commissioned by the United Nations and based on his lectures at Cambridge University and the University of Sao Paulo. Palast is Patron of the Trinity College Philosophical Society, an honor previously held by Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde. His writings have won him the Financial Times David Thomas Prize. Palast won the George Orwell Courage in Journalism Award for his BBC documentary, Bush Family Fortunes. He has received the “Global Editors Award for Data Journalism” and “International Reporter of the Year” from the Association of Mexican Reporters. His bestsellers have been translated into two dozen languages and films broadcast worldwide. He has received the “Global Editors Award for Data Journalism” and “International Reporter of the Year” from the Association of Mexican Reporters. Greg Palast's debut collection of poetry will be published by El Martillo Press in 2024.
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.
