Literary Death Match

Given that this week is International Book Week, I thought it was appropriate I write about a recent awesome evening at  Literary Death Match, performed at Shoreditch’s ‘Concrete,’ under Pizza East.  Established in 2006 and hailed as the “most entertaining reading series ever” by the Los Angeles Times, Literary Death Match is hosted by it’s quite brilliant co-creator, my dapper friend, Adrian Todd Zuniga (usually wearing a three piece suit and bow tie no less).   This live show features 4 authors each reading from one of their novels for 7 minutes in front of an all-star panel of 3 judges and a usually quite rowdy audience!  Critiqued in the categories of literary merit, performance and intangibles, two chosen finalists compete in a comical finale for the Literary Death Match medal. 

At this particular Literary Death Match the authors included John NivenSathnam Sangera,Nuala Casey and Polly Morland.   The judges, Louise Doughty, Sarah Morgan and Bunny Suicide's Andy Riley chose Sathnam Sanghera as our winner.  I am really looking forward to reading Sathnam's book ‘Marriage Material,’  which he so brilliantly read from.  Occurring regularly in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and London, the show frequently tours around the world and it really is worth checking their website to see if they are visiting a city near you as a truly random, original and hilarious night may await you... ‘The pen is mightier than the sword and ink will be spilt.’