o martelo is a book about violence and female sexuality, narrated by a nameless female voice, with an antagonist (the prince) and a ambivalent hero (Humboldt). The book is thus divided in two parts – in the first one, the nameless woman describes her post-rape experience within public institutions and bureaucratic instances; in the second part, she describes her experience as both married and adulterous woman, making questionable, suspicious parallels between husband and lover, and between rape and consensual sex. The division of the book is inspired by Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor, who created a law establishing that rape and adultery were similar crimes, committed only by the woman, for her being unable to take care of her husband’s property (i.e. her body).

o martelo was first published in a small edition in Lisbon, in late 2016, by douda correria, with 28 poems and illustrations by xuehka. The first brazilian edition was published in Rio de Janeiro by edições garupa, in January 2017 (134 days after the coup in Brazil), as an extended version, with 29 poems and afterword by journalist and activist Carol Almeida.

brazilian version (rio de janeiro: garupa, 2017) photo: santarosa barreto

It was re-launched in Lisbon in march 2018, with a new cover:

portuguese version (lisbon: douda correria, 2018). illustration by xuehka

in 2019 a selection of the poems – called “the hammer and other poems” – was launched in the UK, by poetry translation centre, with translations from rachel long and francisco vilhena, and an afterword by the poet and scholar emily critchley. this version is short-listed to the first derek walcott prize:

UK version (London: PTC, 2019), translated by rachel long and francisco vilhena. 

also in 2019, commune editions released the full version of the book, with translations by chris daniels:

USA version (san francisco: commune editions, 2019), translated by chris daniels.

Late in 2019, it was released in germany, with translations by christiane quandt, by material/materialien:

german version (munich: materialien, 2019), translated by christiane quandt

in 2020, it was published in greece by TEFLON, with translations by peter constantine and spyros pratilas:

greek version (athens: TEFLON, 2020), translated by peter constantine and spyros pratilas

In 2021, it was released in argentina with translations by diana klinger, with mandacaru editorial.

some reviews:
. un objeto que aprieta el lenguaje. reseña sobre «el martillo» (2021) de adelaide ivánova, by lina gabriela cortés for revista transas.
. Η ποίηση έχει τη δυνατότητα να δημιουργεί και να καταστρέφει, by yannis kontos for poli-K.
. “hammer on”, by annie fan for mpt – modern poetry in translation.
. “the lyric me, too”, by mia you for public books.
. “the hammer by adelaide ivánova”, by laura jaramillo for poetry project #261.
. “letters from Latin America”, at morning star.
. “the hammer and other poems”, by afric mcglinchey for sabotage reviews.
. untitled, by charlotte thießen & joel scott for artiCHOKE magazine.
. “o testemunho em o martelo”, by taís bravo for odara magazine.
. “violáceo, vermelho-sangue”, by gustavo silveira for escamandro.
. “o triunfo da porrada”, by mateus baldi for resenha de bolso.
. “todos os martelos o martelo”, by rafael zacca for revista pessoa.

o martelo from adelaide ivánova on Vimeo.