Toronto, Ep. 4

October 23, 2021 — After nearly a year away, Literary Death Match returned to T-dot (virtually, at least) to take part in the Toronto International Festival of Authors, with a wowing, all-star-laden event that saw poet Roger Robinson narrowly outduel co-finalist/novelist Thea Lim in a hotly-contested Author Spelling Bee III finale that won Robinson the LDM Toronto, Ep. 4 crown, and literary immortality to go with it. 

Here's the full lineup from the night: 

JUDGES: 
Literary Merit: Nikesh Shukla, author of Brown Baby: A Memoir of Race, Family and Home, editor of the bestselling essay collection The Good Immigrant and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

Performance: Sophia Benoit, comedian and author of Well, This is Exhausting, along with writing sex and relationship advice for GQ and an advice newsletter on Substack called Here's The Thing

Intangibles: Mohanad Elshieky, a NYC-based stand-up comedian who made his national TV debut on Conan, and is now co-host of the "I'm Sorry" podcast

READERS:
Round 1:
* Thea Lim, author of An Ocean of Minutes, shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, longlisted for Canada Reads, and optioned for television

* Jaquira Díaz, author of Ordinary Girls, winner of a Whiting Award in Nonfiction; a Florida Book Awards Gold Medal; and a 2020 Lambda Finalist​

Round 2: 
* Roger Robinson, educator and author of the poetry collection A Portable Paradise, winner of the T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize 2019, and the Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje Prize 2020 

* Etgar Keret, author of Fly Already, Suddenly a Knock on the Door, writer of the Camera d’Or award winning-film JELLYFISH, and the mind behind the Substack newsletter Alphabet Soup

Hosted by LDM creator Adrian Todd Zuniga.

Where: Online 
When: October 23, 8:30p.m. EST 
Cost: Free