LA, Ep. 53

November 8, 2023 — Literary Death Match returned to LA for our first-ever show in West Hollywood, partnering with the masterminds at WeHo Reads and the City of West Hollywood for a blazingly-bright night of lit, wit, silliness and belly laughs that saw Kyle Seibel topple co-finalist Melissa Chadburn in sudden death in an Arithme-Lit finale, winning Seibel literary immortality, and the LA, Ep. 53 crown.

Here's the full lineup from the night: 

Opening Poet: Jen Cheng, poet, writer, musician, founding member of the Pride Poets and the 2023-26 West Hollywood City Poet Laureate 

JUDGES: 
Literary Merit: Rasheed Newson, author of My Government Means to Kill Me (a Lambda Award finalist and winner of Philadelphia Inquirer's Best Book of the Year), and executive producer of TV's Bel-Air, and he's also written and produced for The Chi and Narcos 

Performance: Pickle, the first Drag Laureate of the City of West Hollywood, she's a live-singing, host, entertainer, and storyteller who runs the LA chapter of Drag Story Hour, and has appeared on NBC’s The Weakest Link, the Discovery Channel’s Dodgeball Thunderdome, and Tyler Perry’s Sistas

Intangibles: Timothy Simons, SAG Award-winning actor and comedian who starred as Jonah Ryan in Veep, alogn with key roles in Station Eleven, Don't Worry Darling, Joy Ride and so, so many more

Super-Intangibles: Natalie Palamides, absurdist physical comedian who some call a "clown," "character performer," or "commercial actor" best known for her critically acclaimed Netflix comedy special NATE: A ONE-MAN SHOW where she explores the idea of consent in drag, bare chested and accompanied by a rubber wiener. She also won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Newcomer in 2017

READERS: 
Round 1: 
* R.K. Russell, social justice advocate, essayist, artist and author of the memoir The Yards Between Us, he made history as the first active NFL football player to identify as bisexual. His short documentary, Finding Free, was nominated at the Sports Emmys and won awards at the 2022 Webby Awards and New York Film Festival

* Kyle Seibel, short story writer living in Santa Barbara, his stories have appeared in Wigleaf, Joyland, and New World Writing, and he's currently shopping his debut collection, HEY YOU ASSHOLES. His tweets, which suck, can be found @kylerseibel

Round 2:
* Melissa Chadburn, activist and author of the debut novel A Tiny Upward Shove, her essay on food insecurity was published in Best American Food Writing 2019, and her writing has appeared in the LA Times, New York Times Book Review, New York Review of Books, Longreads, Paris Review online, and dozens of others

* Jessamyn Violet, author of the debut novel Secret Rules to Being a Rockstar and the poetry collection Organ Thieves, she's also the drummer for the band Movie Club

Hosted by LDM creator Adrian Todd Zuniga (author of the award-nominated novel Collision Theory)

Where: West Hollywood City Council Chambers, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood (map)
When: November 8, 7:05pm sharp (ends by 8:30pm) 
Cost: Free — click here to RSVP!