Montreal, Ep. 2

October 11, 2011 — At a jam-packed Sala Rossa, an epic unfolding of literary and comedic oddity occurred (presented by Maisonneuve), all finished by crumpled book burners being somewhat-nimbly flung through a Nerf hoop to decide the champion. In a wild scramble, Katrina Best bested Zoe Page by 5-2 in a closer-than-the-score-shows finish to win Best the Literary Death Match Montreal crown. 

LDM's roster of writers included the hilarious hipster Page (who came complete with her own handcrafted chapbook), Concordia's Chair of English Jason Camlot who gave us a Cohen-esque musical reading complete with kazoo, Byron Rempel (author of No Limits and Truth is Naked, the Globe and Mail's 2006 Book of the Year) who read what we interpreted as erotic Cervidae poetry, and Bird Eat Bird author Katrina Best, by way of the UK whose preamble was almost as good as her lively story. 

LDM's judges were categorized as the "literary" Sean Michaels (Said the Gramophone founder), the "intangible"-oriented Jonathan Goldstein (author of Ladies & Gentleman, The Bible!), and the performance overseer Alexis O’Hara. 

After the judges selected Best, who narrowly bested Camlot in Round 1, and Page (who narrowly out-Paged Rempel) in Round 2, the finale featured the two ladies firing crumpled up pictures of book burners at a "breast-high" flaming basketball hoop that hadn't been lit on fire. While their volunteers scrambled to rebound the book burners, it was Best who never gave up her early lead, winning the competition 5-2 while awesome Montréal onlookers cheered wildly, winning Best not only the LDM medal, but literary immortality to boot! 

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