Friday, March 9, 2012 at 1:12AM March 11, 2012 — For our Norwich debut (our 40th city ever!), we paired with Writers' Centre Norwich for a sparkling night at Norwich Arts Centre that ended with Ross Sutherland outdueling co-finalist Martin Figura in an epic and hotly-contested battle of Literary Spelling Bee that Sutherland won in sudden death by a narrower-than-it-appears margin of 9-8 to win the LDM Norwich, Ep. 1 crown.
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 7:27PM February 16, 2012 — In a brilliant showcase of just how far Literary Death Match London's come in six years, our first event in London in 2012 was a night to remember, which saw the masterful Lloyd Shepherd (author of The English Monster) outduel co-finalist Sarah Tucker (author of The Playground Mafia) by a 2-1 margin in a battle of Authorial Secret Loves, winning Shepherd LDM London's 22nd crown.
Sunday, December 25, 2011 at 1:26AM A Portland-based journalist asked me to tell her about my experience watching Literary Death Match grow after going from four events in one city (NYC) in 2006, to 68 events over 31 cities in 2011. Here was my answer (that went unpublished — she just used a tiny quote from another question):
"As far as I can tell, the stages of creation go something like this:
Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 7:41AM December 7, 2011 — A converted brewery tucked behind Spitalfields Market became a Santa’s grotto of literary greatness for the final LDM of the year as Kat Brown defeated Ed Hogan in a tense, sudden-death Bauble-Off! that lasted a nail-gnawing four rounds before Brown triumphed over her adversary to claim the Death Match crown.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 1:32AM October 12, 2011 — Kicking off a bi-coastal LDM double-header (an LDM in NYC happened just hours later), the Literary Death Match in London finished with Tom Cox claiming the crown!
Full details coming shortly!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011 at 6:52AM August 17, 2011 — In a wild mathematical-seeming themed Books by Numbers finale, it was playwright and novelist Nat Segnit that out-added his finals opponent, the BAFTA-nominated film producer Nick Taussig, with the wily selection of John Buchan to win the Literary Death Match crown by a mere six points!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 11:53AM June 16, 2011 — A dazzling night before a wonderfully packed Concrete crowd ended when three-point expert John Butler narrowly outshined co-finalist David Whitehouse 5-4 in an anti-book burning netball shootout that won Butler the coveted Literary Death Match crown!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 9:06PM May 11, 2011 — In what can only be deemed an instant classic at Concrete, the Picador-sponsored night saw author Leo Benedictus out-duel co-finalist Chimene Suleyman in a wild, silly string spray-off that earned Benedictus the Literary Death Match crown.
Friday, March 18, 2011 at 12:40PM March 18, 2011 — Literary Death Match's Red Nose Day Spectcular at Concrete — presented by Pan Macmillan — was a joy- and laugh-filled thrill that saw super-poet Martin Figura topple humor brillianteur Miriam Elia 10-6 in a confused-and-somewhat fierce Poet v. Madman face-off that won Figura the Literary Death Match Crown.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 10:33AM February 16, 2011 — Heartbreak! Barbara Cartland! Thrills! Literary Death Match London's 12th episode at Shoreditch House was an instant all-around classic that saw literary upstart Guy Folligrey (and his merry ukelele) out-Cupid Julie Mayhew to win the LDM crown in a bow-and-arrow contest that will not soon be forgotten.