Brooklyn, Ep. 1

May 9, 2013 — After 44 Manhattan-based events, Literary Death Match is made the obvious move to the better borough, with an offiical Brooklyn debut at Union Hall that saw Alexander Chee outduel co-finalist Alina Simone in an exhilirating Literary Pictionary finale that Chee won with a closer-than-it-seems 9-1 victory, to win him the LDM Brookyn, Ep. 1 crown. 

But before the wild finale commenced, the night kicked off with the dazzling Tayari Jones who read a crowd-pleasing excerpt from her novel Silver Sparrow. Next up was Alexander Chee (author of Edinburgh: A Novel, winner of Asian American Writers Workshop Literature Award), who read a Duane Reade-inspired story about an Asian-American "fuckup." 

The mic was then handed over to the night's trio of all-star judges: Elissa Bassist (writer and editor of Funny Women at The Rumpus), Dale Seever (host of the ever-brilliant Dale Radio) and Baratunde Thurston (author of How to Be Black and founder of Cultivated Wit). The three reeled off non-stop witticisms that had the giggly crowd in throes before finally huddling and deciding it would be Conley that advanced as the night's first finalist. 

After a booze-fueled intermission, Round 2 kicked off with comedian Dan Wilbur (of Better Book Titles fame) who reeled off a brilliant series of pieces from his book How Not to Read: Harnessing the Power of a Literature-Free Life. He was followed by musician Alina Simone (author of You Must Go and Win) who read an electric excerpt of her brand-new novel Note to Self: A Novel (out in June!). 

Again the judges were center stage, with praise and whimsy being flung in equal measure, before finally deciding that it would be Simone who would advance as the night's first finalist. 

Then up stepped LDM creator Adrian Todd Zuniga, who announced that the night's finale would be Pulitzer Pictionary, in which audience members were tasked with drawing out the titles of Pulitzer Prize-winning novels. With Chee in the lead he hammered home the final answer with assistance from the crowd to win him the Literary Death Match crown, and literary immortality to go with it. 

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