Dublin, Ep. 9

May 13, 2015 — Literary Death Match returned to Ireland's capital with a lineup aimed at bringing the house down at The Grand Social, and that's exactly what happened, as the sterling night finished with Alvy Carragher outdueling James Moran in a somewhat baffling Literary Charades finale featuring great Irish books to win Carragher the LDM Dublin, Ep. 9 crown. 

But before the finale was even a thought, the magic night kicked off with Eileen Gormley, comedy/erotica/sci-fi writer, who went steamy and read an erotic piece that titillated the audience. Next up was James Moran, comedian, Cyberpsychologist and comedy writer, who hilariously dazzled with a pair of excerpts from a short play that was a hear-to-believe wonder. 

The mic was then passed to the trio of star judges: Dave Rudden, author of forthcoming Knights of the Borrowed Dark trilogy (Spring 2016); Sarah Maria Griffin, author of Not Lost, and the upcoming Spare & Found Parts (coming 2016); and Bert Wright, administrator of the Irish Book Awards. The three heaped praise and cheers onto each author before huddling up and deciding it would be Moran who would advance by the narrowest of margins to be the night's first finalist. 

Then came Round 2, led off by the wowing Alvy Carragher, blogger, Irish People's 2015 Poetry Prize nominee and All Ireland Poetry Slam Finalist, who read a pair of feminist-charged poems that staggered the awed crowd. Finally it was Peter Murphy, author of Costa Book Award-shortlisted John the Revelator and Shall We Gather at the River, who delivered a pitch-perfectly fierce piece about a female drummer giving it her all night after night. 

Again the judges took center stage, equally gob-smacked by the power of both performers, but after a huddle, they made the tough decision of selecting Carragher to advance as the night's second finalist. 

Then up stepped LDM creator Adrian Todd Zuniga who announced the night's finale: Literary Charades, bringing up a three-person charades team who volunteered to act out Irish book titles for Carragher and Moran to guess at. It was dramatically back and forth until Carragher sung out the final answer, winning her the Literary Death Match Dublin, Ep. 9 medal, and literary immortality to go with it.