El Martillo Press Presents... FLORICANTO 2024

Hey! As co-founder of El Martillo Press, I organized this event. Hopefully, it will be long remembered.

El Martillo Press Presents...

FLORICANTO 2024

Friday, December 13th

5-8 pm

Centro Cultural de la Raza

2004 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92101, USA

FREE ADMISSION (donations appreciated for CCR).

Over 20 authors from Mexico and the USA. Opening performance by Charlie Chavez & the Perla Negra Jazz Trio!

Bar with alcoholic drinks for 21 and over.

Organized by El Martillo Press with Centro Cultural de la Raza (CCR) and the Mexican Cultural Institute of Los Angeles (MCILA).

MEXICO

Elma Correa (Mexicali, México) es licenciada en Lengua y Literatura Hispanoamericana, maestra en Estudios Socioculturales y doctoranda en Sociedad, Espacio y Poder, por la UABC, donde también imparte clases. Fue becaria del PecdaBC en 2010 y 2018, del FONCA en 2014. Coordinadora y organizadora del encuentro internacional de escritores de Baja California "Tiempo de Literatura" y gestiona "Habitaciones propias” una comunidad virtual donde las mujeres del mundo comparten los espacios donde crean. Escribe cuento y crónica, sus textos se han publicado en revistas nacionales e internacionales, como ice, Punto en Línea, Pez Banana, Shandy, El Septentrión, Tierra Adentro o emeequis y se han incluido en diversas antologías. Ha recibido diversos premios entre ellos, el XX Premio Nacional de Cuento Juan José Arreola y el Premio Bellas Artes de Cuento San Luis Potosí Amparo Dávila 2022. Compiladora de las antologías Vacunas contra la poesía (SCBC, 2020), el apartado mexicano de Frontera Norte. Antología de narrativa chilena y mexicana (Cinosargo, 2020), Ni una sola palabra (UANL, 2021) y Mexicanas 2 (Fondo Blanco, 2022).

Gaspar Orozco was born in Chihuahua, Mexico in 1971. His books of poetry include Abrir fuego (2000), El silencio de lo que cae (2000), Notas del país de Z (2009), Astrodiario (2010), Autocinema (2010, bilingual edition 2016), Plegarias a la Reina Mosca (2011) and Book of the Peony / Memorial de la Peonía (2107, bilingual edition translated by Mark Weiss and edited by Shearsman Books in the UK), Juego de Espejos (2018, bilingual edition Spanish-Chinese). His work is included in various anthologies and has been published in literary journals in Mexico, the United States, and the United Kingdom. He has translated poetry from English, French and classic Chinese to Spanish. He was a member of the punk band Revolución X and co-director of the documentary film Subterraneans: Mexican Norteña Music in in New York. He served as associate director of the Instituto de Estudios Mexicanos of the City University of New York (CUNY). As a career diplomat, he has served in the Mexican consulates in New York and Los Angeles and is currently the cultural attaché to the Mexican Consulate of San Diego. He is currently preparing multiple manuscripts for bilingual publication, and these poems reflect his most current work.

Marlon PV reflexiona entre las fronteras de la poesía y el arte visual, con temas de interés como el feminismo, así como los problemas sociopolíticos que atraviesan México y América Latina. Realiza fanzines y ha publicado en revistas y antologías de literatura binacional y nacional. Fue seleccionada en el Programa de Estímulo a la Creación y el Desarrollo Artístico (Baja California, 2024-2025); y en los programas educativos Nueva Narrativa Nativos de El Frente Arte y Cultura (Estados Unidos, 2021) y en la clase magistral de poesía impartida por el poeta David Huerta en Bajo El Volcán (Tepoztlán, CDMX, 2021).

Jesús Ernesto Guevara (Mexicali, Baja California) estudió la licenciatura en Derecho en la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. Asiste a talleres de cuento y guion. Participó como guionista en la adaptación cinematográfica del cuento de su autoría «Jueves de junio». Ha publicado cuento en diversas revistas literarias. Casi lo confundo con mi hogar es su primer libro.

Miguel Alberto Jr Ochoa García. Editor y escritor mexicano. Estudió Ciencias Políticas, y Lengua y Literatura de Hispanoamérica. Es director del Grupo Cultural Página en Blanco y editor de Lapicero Rojo Editorial. Es poeta, narrador y ensayista. Ha coordinado diversos círculos de lectura en diversas instituciones culturales desde hace 12 años. Es parte de la Unión de Librerías de Tijuana y la Cámara Nacional de la Industria Editorial Mexicana. Imparte talleres literarios para público infantil, adolescente y adulto en la Escuela de Escritura Página en Blanco, y es autor de los libros infantiles El Niño Telescopio y Campamento de Amabilidad Felina, ambos publicados en Lapicero Rojo Editorial. Es fundador de la Convocatoria Los Excéntricos que actualmente Lapicero Rojo realiza cada dos años. Ha participado en la Feria de Libro de Tijuana como expositor, editor, organizador, tallerista y dictaminador desde hace 8 años y participa u organiza diversos festivales literarios a nivel regional, siendo partícipe y aliado de la Feria del Libro en Español y Festival Literario LéaLA que se realiza en Los Angeles, California, la University of Guadalajara Foundation, USA.

Jesús García Mora, Tijuana, 1986. Escritor y docente. Autor de los libros Detrás de la caja registradora, Ediciones El Humo (Querétaro/2016), Tengo la noción de lo que es un martillo, ICBC (Mexicali, 2017) y El rumor de mi hermano, Pinosalados ediciones (Baja California, 2021), el cual fue publicado en 2023 en versión bilingüe por Isto ediciones, en Porto Alegre, Brasil. Forma parte de las antologías Somos poetas ¿y qué? Vol.2,(H)onda nómada ediciones(México/2011), Poesía y narrative hispanoamericana del siglo XXl, Lord Byron ediciones (Madrid/2014), Anuario de Poesía de San Diego, Garden Oak Press (California/2016, 2017, 2018, 1019). Es parte del comité organizador del Festival Internacional de Poesía Caracol, Tijuana. A colaborado como columnistas en diversas revistas literarias Forma parte de Sombras Parientes, antología de cuento del Centro de posgrado y estudios Sor Juana, editorial La Rumorosa (Baja California, 2021).

Iván García Mora (Tijuana, 1993). Músico y escritor. Sus textos han aparecido en revistas como Periódico de Poesía de la UNAM, Santa Rabia Poetry, Punto de partida, Grafógrafxs y Low-fi Ardentía. Es autor de los poemarios Tadoma (Pinos Alados, 2020) y Serial Experiments I.G.M (Ediciones Caradura, 2024). Escribió el libro de cuentos Seis posibles razones por las que mi abuelo decidió vivir en un cajón (Ediciones Cuarentena, 2022). Fue parte del comité organizador del Festival Internacional de Poesía Caracol Tijuana.

Angel Manuel Nuño nació en Tijuana en 2001. Estudió la licenciatura en Lengua y Literatura de Hispanoamérica en la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. Actualmente es beneficiario del Programa de Estímulo a la Creación y Desarrollo Artístico (PECDA Baja California).

USA

Matt Sedillo has been described as the "best political poet in America" by investigative journalist and documentarian Greg Palast as well as "the poet laureate of the struggle" by professor and historian Paul Ortiz. Sedillo's 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 Palabra Del Mundo Festival in Venice, Italy, the recipient of the 2022 Dante's Laurel, a panelist at the 2023 Guadalajara Book Fair, a panelist at the 2023 FIL Mineria, a plenary speaker at the 14th Biennial Conference of the Hungarian Association of American Scholars, and a reader at the 2024 Medellin Poetry Festival. Sedillo has appeared on CSPAN and has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Axios, the Associated Press, La Jornada, NPR among many other publications and broadcasts. Sedillo has spoken at Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba, Dante's Basilica in Ravenna Italy, 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 the University of Cambridge, UNAM, and Stanford, 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), both 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 of the World Poetry Movement US, the co-founder of El Martillo Press, and Lead Host of Radio La Raza on KPFK 90.7.

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).

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.

David A. Romero is a Mexican-American spoken word artist from Diamond Bar, CA. He is the 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). Romero has received honorariums from nearly a hundred colleges and universities in thirty-four different states in the USA and has also performed live in Mexico, Italy, and France. Romero's work has been published in literary magazines in the United States, Mexico, England, Scotland, Canada, and Hungary. Romero has opened for Latin Grammy winning bands Ozomatli and La Santa Cecilia. Romero's work has been published in anthologies alongside poets laureate Joy Harjo, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Luis J. Rodriguez, Jack Hirschman, and Tongo Eisen-Martin. Romero has won the Uptown Slam at the historic Green Mill in Chicago; the birthplace of slam poetry.

Norman Antonio Zelaya is from San Francisco, CA. His writing is inspired by his Nicoya heritage and his lived experience as a SF native and Mission District homeboy. He’s the author of two collections of short fiction, Orlando & Other Stories (Pochino Press, 2017), and most recently, Gente, Folks (Black Freighter Press, 2022). His work has appeared in ZYZZYVA, Apogee Journal, NY Tyrant, 14 Hills, and Cipactli, among other journals. Mr. Zelaya has read and lectured throughout California, and across the country. Also, he’s appeared on stage, in film, and in the squared circle as the masked luchador, Super Pulga. He lives and works in San Francisco, where he’s completing a debut novel.

Donato Martinez was born in a 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 been a co-coordinator of the Puente Program for 25 years. He hosts and curates many artistic events that feature poetry and music at his campus or in the community. He is also a poet and writes about his barrio experience, his community, his Chicano culture, bilingual identities, and other complexities of life. He is influenced by the sounds and pulse of the streets, people, music, and the magic of language. He has a self-published collection with three other Inland Empire poets, Tacos de Lengua. His work has been published by City Works, East Side Rose, The Acentos Review, San Diego Poetry Annual, Ofrenda Magazine, The Mixtape Literary Journal, Latin@ Literatures, and La Raiz Magazine. He loves the outdoors and is inspired by books, music, and his children, Gabriel, and Abigail. Martinez published his poetry debut Touch the Sky in 2023 with El Martillo Press. He is the host of Palabra Open Mic at The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture.

Ceasar K. Avelar is the second poet laureate of Pomona, CA. As a poet, Ceasar is dedicated to the working class. His poems speak the truth, not only to people in a position of power, but also to the everyday person that views the working class as a stigmatized identity. Ceasar is of Central American descent. His mother is an immigrant from Honduras and his father is from El Salvador. Ceasar is the author of God of the Air Hose and Other Blue-Collar Poems (El Martillo Press, 2023). Ceasar’s poems tell the stories of workers of color, their families and the obstacles they face in the United States; not just as workers, but as immigrants living in a country where their existence is commodified. Ceasar is the resident poet for Café con Libros Press, a cultural center and bookstore. He runs Obsidian Tongues open mic, which strives to bring poetry, art, and free expression to the community of Pomona.

Briana Muñoz is a poet from Southern California. She is the author of two books of poetry including Loose Lips (Prickly Pear Publishing) and Everything is Returned to the Soil (FlowerSong Press). Her work has been published in the anthologies Somos Xicanas, Beat Not Beat , and Reimagine America, and in literary journals Cultural Daily, the Oakland Arts Review, Dryland Literary Journal, the Angel City Review, as well as several other publications. Briana is the founder of Poetry as Harm Reduction and currently serves as the board of directors secretary for the Los Angeles Poet Society. She has performed poetry in places like the International Poetry Festival of Havana, Cuba, the 2015 Festival de Poesia in Tijuana, MX, as well as at the XXI Congreso Internacional de Literatura y Estudios Hispanicos in Quito, Ecuador.

Iris De Anda is a Guanaca Tapatia poet, speaker & musician who has been featured with KPFK & KPFA Pacifica Radio, organized with Academy of American Poets, performed at Los Angeles Latino Book Festival, Feria del Libro Tijuana, Mexico, Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba and is named one of Today's Revolutionary Women of Color. Author of Codeswitch: Fires from Mi Corazon (Los Writers Underground Press, 2014) and Roots of Redemption: You have No Right to Remain Silent (FlowerSong Press, 2022).

Adrián Arancibia is a poet, author, and critic He is a founder of the seminal Chicano/Latino performance poetry collective Taco Shop Poets and is a co-editor of the Taco Shop Poets Anthology: Chorizo Tonguefire. He has authored the collection of poetry titled Atacama Poems and The Keeper/El guardador, Poems of Exhaustion. Arancibia's creative work depicts and comments on the lives of immigrants, while his critical work focuses on literature and its relation to social spaces and popular culture.

Margaret Elysia Garcia is the author of the daughterland published by El Martillo Press, Graft, a collection of Chicanx noir short stories set in Southern California and published by Tolsun Press, the eBook Sad Girls & Other Stories, and the audiobook Mary of the Chance Encounters, and the poetry chapbook Burn Scars published by the Lit Kit Collective. She’s the co-editor of the forthcoming Red Flag Warning: Northern Californians Living with Fire to be published by HeyDay books in 2025. She’s the co-founder of Pachuca Productions—a Latina theater troupe producing original and social justice plays in the Lost Sierra and teaches a poetry class with Community Literary Initiative in Los Angeles.

Natalie Sierra is a poet, author, and editor. She is passionate about the power of words and their ability to shape and transform lives. Her work has been featured in esteemed publications such as the Westwind Journal of The Arts (UCLA), the Los Angeles Times, and others. She is the author of the poetry collection "Medusa" from DSTL Arts Press, and her debut novel Charlie, Forever and Ever was released from FlowerSong Press. Her upcoming novel, Beyond the Grace of God, is set to be published in 2025 by Black Rose, an imprint of Quill and Crow Publishing. In addition to writing, Natalie teaches poetry writing and novel writing workshops, sharing her love for storytelling with others. She is also the president of Café con Libros Press, a nonprofit bookstore in Pomona, CA, where she cultivates a vibrant literary community and supports diverse voices.

Fernando Albert Salinas has been associated with California Poets in the Schools as a member of the Board of Directors, a Ventura County Area Coordinator, and a Master Poet-Teacher for over 10 years. He is now the Statewide Program Manager for CalPoets. He is also a Professor of English at Ventura College, the poet in residence for the Oxnard Union High School District, and the Editor-In-Chief for Spit Shine Publishing. As Literary Arts Program Coordinator for the Ventura County Arts Council, he focused on enhancing the presence and appreciation of poetry and the spoken word. His poetry has appeared in several publications, including Askew, Solo, Miramar, and Lummox Press. 

Julie Corrales is a first-generation Chicana, an autodidactic chola, political activist, teen-mother, hoochie, feminist, survivor, actively engaged in her own decolonization. Zapoteca by blood, American by her parents’ sweat and tears, she draws on her experiences to advocate for and write about Chicanx issues. As a youth, Julie wrote many melodramatic rhyming love poems, some of which are still in circulation among imprisoned Californians. Since then, her poetry has been published in Acentos Review, Anacua Literary Arts Journal, and Azahares Literary Magazine. Julie is a Policy Advocate with the Environmental Health Coalition and a founding board member of Tierras Indigenas Community Land Trust.

Belkis Miller was born in Culiacán, Sinaloa, in 1972 and graduated in Graphic Design from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Tijuana. She has been a student of writer Mario González Suárez since 2010. She has taken courses at the Mexican School of Writers and workshops at Cecut with Élmer Mendoza, Guillermo Samperio, Claudia Guillén, Ignacio Trejo Fuentes, and Mauricio Bares. She has been a translator, interpreter, and bilingual collaborator since 2017 at Casa Cornelia Law Center San Diego. She published an essay in Southwestern College San Diego magazine and participated in the 130 Years, 130 Words (2019) book with the minifiction "Mi Fracc." She is co-author of the book Vagón Rosa Rosa Rosa with the short story "Carmen" with Ediciones Periféricas in 2024.

SPECIAL MUSICAL GUEST: Charlie Chavez & the Perla Negra Jazz Trio

Charlie Chávez is a virtuoso percussionist whose performances are a fusion of his exquisite talent, his passionate spirit, and his rigorous study of the history of Latin percussion. He studied music at the Conservatory of Music, University of Xalapa in Veracruz. He has performed extensively in Tijuana and San Diego. In 2002 Charlie toured Europe and the United States with Lila Downs and Maldita Vecindad. He has also performed with some of Jazz and Latin music’s greatest artists including Poncho Sanchez, Charles McPherson, Gary Burton, Chuchito Valdez, The Spanish Harlem Orquesta, Denise De Kalafe, Iraida Noriega, Israel Varela, Oscar Hernández and the Celia Cruz Salsa Orquestra from Los Angeles. Charlie has become one of the most important percussionists in Southern California performing with Gilbert Castellanos Latin Jazz Ensemble, Dave Scott Jazz Trio, Orquesta Binacional de Mambo, B Side Players, Allan Phillips Projects. He also heads his own salsa group, Afrotruko, which has not only performed at major venues and festivals in Southern California, but has also opened for some of salsa’s biggest stars. In 2012, Charlie Chávez y Su Afrotruko Salsa Band opened for Ruben Blades on the 30th Anniversary Celebration of Tijuana Cultural Center, as well as Oscar de Leon and Plena Libre, in San Diego. Charlie has recorded with Tijuana All Star, Orquesta Pico de Gallo (Vengo del Desierto), Gene Perry (Mi Tambor Lo Dice Todo), Oscar Aragon (Vida), Sasha Boutros (Simply Sasha) and Taylor Hicks (The Distance). Most recently Charlie has formed his own Latin Jazz Quintet and the Mexican trio, Perla Negra. Charlie has organized master percussion workshops in San Diego bringing in world class percussionists Georgie Padilla, David “La Mole” Ortiz, Tomasito Cruz, Pablito Rosario ,William "Kachiro" Thompson,and the Great Jose Luis Quintana “Changuito.” He teaches percussion classes in Tijuana and in San Diego.