OUR FOUNDERS
CEO, EL Martillo Press
Matt Sedillo
Matt Sedillo has been described as the "best political poet in America" as well as "the poet laureate of the struggle." He is a co-founder and CEO of El Martillo Press. 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.
​
Director of Operations: South America,
El Martillo Press
Vanessa Torres
Vanessa Torres (Bogota, Colombia 1978) is a Colombian born poet and cultural anthropologist currently residing in San Francisco, CA. As a creator, feminist and cultural activist, she has worked on different proposals and projects for the projection of Hispanic American culture as well as the visualization of the arts and literature made by women creators, inside and outside the United States through radio, journalism and literature.
​
Editor-in-Chief, El Martillo Press
David A. Romero
David A. Romero is a Mexican-American spoken word artist from Diamond Bar, CA. Romero is a co-founder and editor-in-chief of El Martillo Press. Romero is the author of My Name Is Romero (FlowerSong Press, 2020). and Diamond Bars 2 (Moon Tide Press, 2024).
​
​
​
About
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.
Launched in Los Angeles 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.
​
​
​
​
Submissions
We solicit our authors and do not take unsolicited submissions.
However, if you send us an email attempting an unsolicited submission, we strongly recommend that you include: a professional bio, a synopsis of your work, your work (or a sample) formatted in single space Times New Roman size 12 font, and any relevant links (website, socials, press articles, publications, YouTube videos of readings or performances, etc.).
​
If you are sending in an unsolicited submission, do not add the co-founders on social media and message them via social media or comment upon posts regarding the status of your submission. Do not refer to our co-founders in such a way as to suggest a degree of familiarity, if in fact, you have not met them in person. This will result in automatic rejection. Do not buy books directly from the co-founders or send money to them for any reason. This will be interpreted as an attempt to buy your way into getting published. This will also result in automatic rejection.
​
We will not answer all inquiries. Inquiries that gain our interest may be answered, but we do not commit to publishing any work until we have sent an author a contract. We do not owe any author explanation for why we have decided to pass on their project or why we haven't answered their inquiry.
​
Thank you for your consideration. We thank you for thinking of publishing with us! There are many presses and publishing options out there, we wish you luck!
​