Write to the Death
Round Two of Montreal’s Literary Death Match
Though modern notions of political correctness and the primacy of human life have largely done away with gladiator-style fights to the death, ancient Roman notions of combat are being kept alive in Montreal next Tuesday.
The Literary Death Match—which, truth be told, does not involve any actual dying—invites four writers to act as contestants, and four witty judges. The writers read their most electric writing for seven minutes or less, one-on-one, split up into two rounds like a rap battle.
“Our all-star judges [then] take turns spouting off-the-wall commentary (we’re very anti-meanness) in the categories of literary merit, performance and intangibles,” said Todd Zuniga, one of the event’s co-creators.
The judges then choose the victorious literati, who advance to face each other in the final round—which Zuniga describes as a skewed literary game show.
The LDM was born over sake in an Alphabet City sushi shop half a decade ago. It was the brainchild of Elizabeth Koch, Dennis DiClaudio and Zuniga, who were itching for contemporary literature’s grand return to the forefront of pop culture.
The first LDM happened in the spring of 2006 in New York City, and found its way north of the border four years later. Zuniga said he had to take Literary Death Match to Montreal because of what he described as the city’s “crackle of positive energy warbling up through the ground.”
Though the group only held four events their first year, this year they are putting together 72 events taking place in cities like London, San Francisco, New York City, San Diego, Los Angeles, Austin, Toronto, Washington, and Tulsa.
This Literary Death Match is the second to take place in Montreal, and the evening is happening in partnership with local arts quarterly Maisonneuve magazine, who are launching their latest issue in conjunction with the LDM.
Katrina Barton Best, an adopted Montrealer and winner of this year’s Commonwealth Best First Book prize, Jason Camlot, poet and Chair of Concordia’s English Department, Byron Rempel, author of No Limits and Truth Is Naked, the Globe and Mail’s 2006 Book of the Year, and relative unknown Zoe Page—who is nonetheless rumoured to be brilliant—will be duking it out this weekend.
The judges include Jonathan Goldstein—host of CBC Radio’s WireTap—as well as Alexis O’Hara and Sean Michaels.
The first of Montreal’s LDMs happened last March, featuring Melissa Bull, Alisha Percy and Concordia creative writing professors David McGimpsey and Jon Paul Fiorentino, and was sponsored by Summer Literary Seminars.
But Zuniga revealed his ultimate goal for LDM was television.
“For years, I’ve been hell-bent on returning literature to the pop culture conversation, to celebrate the written and performed word in a way that makes people race out and buy books.”
Zuniga dreams to see Stephen King judge alongside Tina Fey and Aziz Ansari, or Margaret Atwood with Steve Nash and Norm Macdonald on CBC one day. Until then, however, the non-televised Literary Death Match is a wild celebration of books, authors, and lit-lovers, and Zuniga hopes the whole city shows up.
Literary Death Match / Oct. 11 / La Sala Rossa (4848 St. Laurent Blvd.) / $10.00 at the door, $7.00 advance / literarydeathmatch.com
