Sydney, Ep. 2

November 1, 2023 — In a showcase of literary magic, Literary Death Match returned to Sydney for the brilliant BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival at State Library New South Wales. The night ended with Candice Fox toppling co-finalist Anne Buist in a down-to-the-wire battle of Arith-Crime-Lit, winning Fox the LDM Sydney, Ep. 2 crown, and literary immortality to go with it. 

Here's the full lineup from the night-of: 

JUDGES: 
Literary Merit: Cassie McCullagh, journalist and writer who presents two programs for Radio National: The Bookshelf, co-hosted with Kate Evans which focuses on Australian and international fiction, and The Weekend, a showcase of the audio documentaries from across the ABC and the world

Performance: Simon Marnie, ABC radio presenter, host of NSW Weekend Mornings in Sydney

Intangibles: Benjamin Stevenson, author of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (soon to be a major HBO series), Greenlight (shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction), Either Side of Midnight (shortlisted for the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Original Paperback), and the all-new Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect. Oh, and he's a award-winning stand-up comedian, too

READERS: 
Round 1: 
* R.W.R. McDonald, award-winning Kiwi author of The Nancys winner of Best First Novel in the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards, the sequel Nancy Business, a finalist for Best Novel in the 2022 Ngaio Marsh awards, and Happy Millionth Birthday, his all-new, first picture book. He's also co-founder of Queer Writes Sessions which promotes LGBTIQ+ and identifying writers

* Anne Buist, author of the psychological thrillers Medea’s Curse, Dangerous to Know, This I Would Kill For, The Long Shadow and her latest, Locked Ward. She's also a Professor of Women’s Mental Health at the University of Melbourne

Round 2:
* Candice Fox, one of Australia’s most acclaimed crime writers, her first two novels, Hades and Eden, won back-to-back Ned Kelly awards, her next four were shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award, and her latest bestseller is Fire With Fire. She collaborates with James Patterson and their books include Never Never, Fifty Fifty, Liar Liar, Hush Hush and The Inn and have all been bestsellers across the world

* Tim Ayliffe, a journalist for 25 years, he's Managing Editor of Television and Video for ABC News, former Executive Producer of News Breakfast and author of the John Bailey series including The Greater Good, State of Fear, The Enemy Within and his most recent novel, Killer Traitor Spy. His thrillers have been optioned for TV

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

Where: State Library New South Wales (Metcalfe Auditorium), 1 Shakespeare Pl, Sydney (map)
When: November 1, 6:05pm sharp (ends by 730pm) 
Cost: $40 standard, $35 concession, $15 livestream (click to preorder now!)