Part literary event, part stand-up comedy, part game show, Literary Death Match brings together four of Melbourne’s finest writers to compete in an edge-of-your-seat live read-off critiqued by three all-star judges; Toni Jordan, Nina Oyama and Reuben Kaye. The night concludes with a slapstick showdown to decide the ultimate champion.
The battle of lits is hosted by creator and new Naarm/Melbourne-based “face to watch” (LA Times) Adrian Todd Zuniga. LA Times has called it “the most entertaining reading series ever”. Interview Magazine wrote it “helps revitalize the coolitude of the printed word”.
Literary Death Match features four established and emerging authors who perform their most brilliant work before a live audience and a panel of three judges. After each pair of readings the judges take turns delivering hilarious, off-the-wall commentary, focusing on Literary Merit, Performance and Intangibles.
Four award-winning Melbourne-based writers will read their own work for 5 minutes or less; Thabani Tshuma, Sez, Alistair Baldwin and Candy Bowers.
In addition to having run regular events in Los Angeles and London, Literary Death Match has been produced in 70 cities worldwide (including Brooklyn, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sydney, Dublin, Reykjavik, Calgary, Helsinki, Edinburgh, Paris and beyond) since it debuted in NYC in March 2006.
The event has featured more than 3,500 participants including Pulitzer Prize-winners Jeffrey Eugenides and Jennifer Egan, and scores of celebrities like Kumail Nanjiani, Diablo Cody, Lena Waithe, John Leguizamo, U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk, Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, Australian genius Benjamin Law, musicians Henry Rollins and Moby.
Regularly staged in theatres and clubs, Literary Death Match is a fixture at world class festivals internationally (Texas Book Festival, LA Times Festival of Books, Brisbane Writers Festival), and has been featured at cultural centres like LA’s Hammer Museum, Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre and Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
