London, Ep. 45

February 24, 2015 — To warm up your chilly February, Picador brought their best new releases from their hottest young authors to LDM at Century Club for a knee-quaking gem that saw David Whitehouse topple Molly McGrann in a Literary Booze finale (less inebriating than it sounds) that won Whitehouse the London, Ep. 45 crown. 

But before the finale was even a thought, the brilliant night kicked off with Stuart Evers, author of Ten Stories About Smoking) who read from his all-new/forthcoming Your Father Sends His Love — the title story about Bob Monkhouse. Then David Whitehouse (award-winning author of BED) took center stage, reading from his all-new Mobile Library, an excerpt about a little boy who helps his best friend break every bone in his body so that they can be replaced by metal rods and he can become a cyborg.

The mic was then handed over to our trio of all-star judges: Ted Hodgkinson, writer, interviewer, editor and Literature Adviser at the British Council; Humza Arshad, comedian, actor and creator/star of Diary of a Bad Man; and Helen Lederer, comedian, actress (from Absolutely Fabulous) and author of Losing It. The three unleashed a tidal wave of witty banter and off-the-wall hysterics before huddling up and making the night's first impossible decision, naming Whitehouse the victor of Round 1. 

Round 2 kicked off with Molly McGrann (critic, poet and author of Exurbia) reading a startling excerpt from her all-new The Ladies of the House that had the crowd on the edge of their seats. Finally it was Rebecca Wait (author of The View on the Way Down) who read a passage from her all-new book The Followers, about a young woman called Judith who visits her mother in prison.

Again the judges were spotlighted, and again they delivered gems upon gems of brilliance, before making the night's second impossible decision, selecting McGrann to advance as the night's second finalist. 

Then up stepped LDM Executive Producer Suzanne Azzopardi to announce the night's finale: Literary Booze. A game in which David Whitehouse and Molly McGrann heard quotes from a range of books and had to match alcoholic drinks to the books. McGrann steamed ahead early, but after a heart-racing comeback, the tiebreaker went to Whitehouse when he guessed hot punch was featured in The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. The result: Whitehouse won the LDM London, Ep. 45 medal, and literary immortality to go with it. 

LDM London Sponsor