Literary Death Match: Baltimore

Come on out and brave the Baltimore debut of the epically hilarious Literary Death Match on January 30 at the Windup Space (12 W. North Ave | Baltimore MD 21201 | $10)!

The Literary Death Match, a brainchild of Opium Magazine, combines Def Poetry Jam, American Idol and Double Dare in an effort to excite the world about literature.

A Death Match begins with famous and up-and-coming contenders representing publications, armed with a short quip (no longer than 8 minutes) of their own literary work. They are paired off to read excerpts in front of a live audience and panel of three expert judges, who score them on literary merit, performance and intangibles. After each pairing the judges take turns spouting hilarious, off-the-wall commentary about each story, then selecting their favorite to advance to the finale.

The finale is when the death part of the match comes into play. It’s time for these authors to show off their physical prowess in an author-on-author battle of absurd and comical proportions. Every finale is unique and always a surprise; past matches include laser tag, trash bag races, “Poet or Madman?” and the infinity obstacle course.

Hosted by Opium's founding editor, Todd Zuniga, the event will feature four readers and three judges.

Featuring Rafael Alvarez (author/journalist, The Wire); Michael Kimball (author, Dear Everybody); Jessica Henkin (The Stoop Storytelling co-mastermind); Michael Hughes (representing CityLit); Mike Young (author of upcoming We Are All Good If They Try Hard Enough); Jen Michalski (representing JMWW); Dave Housley (representing Barrelhouse, and author of Ryan Seacrest is Famous)

Read more about it in the CityLit Muse Newsletter.

www.citylitproject.org/index.cfm?page=enewsletter&id=18