The folks at the international phenom, Literary Death Match are coming to the Bowery Poetry Club tomorrow night for an episode of their “competitive, humor-centric reading series.” Their website explains that each evening features a mix of four famous and emerging authors (all representing a literary publication, press or concern — online, in print or live) who perform their most electric writing in seven minutes or less before a lively audience and a panel of three all-star judges. After each pair of readings, the judges — focused on literary merit, performance and intangibles — take turns spouting hilarious, off-the-wall commentary about each story, then select their favorite to advance to the finals. The two finalists then compete in the Literary Death Match finale, which trades in the show’s literary sensibility for an absurd and comical climax to determine who takes home the Literary Death Match crown.
They write: Not for the faint of heart, LDM NYC’s 26th episode promises to tantalize and titillate your most sensitive literary bits. We’ve assembled an army of brilliant judges — literary renegade Richard Nash, subversive comedian Jena Friedman and blogger/author/goddess Paulina Porizkova — to hold sway over the unruly proceedings.
A hodgepodge of lovable deviants will battle it out on the BPC stage, including Melissa Febos, author of WHIP SMART, King of Counterculture Mike Edison (High Times, Screw), devilish storyteller Wythe Marschall (representing Electric Literature), and laconic absurdist-or-is-he Mike Topp, author of Shorts are Wrong and Happy Ending.
Hosted by Opium’s Director of Weird Artistic Projects, James J. Williams III and Mayhem Specialist Ann Heatherington.
Thurs., May 20th // 308 Bowery // 7p doors, 8:05p show // $10 door, $5 advance
