Tulsa, Ep. 5

October 14, 2015 — For our annual pilgrammage to wonderful Oklahoma, we once again teamed with Booksmart Tulsa for our first-ever Literary Death Match at Living Arts of Tulsa, where writerly and comedic fireworks were on display as Beau Adams trumped Andrew Marshall in a wily Literary Charades finale to win Adams the LDM Tulsa, Ep. 5 crown. 

But before the finale was even a thought, the night kicked off with a clash of storytelling vs. non-fiction (?), with the crackling presence of Tulsa World's Ian Maule, followed by the ceaseless charm of the Tulsa Voice's Beau Adams. 

The mic was then handed to our trio of star judges: Keija Parssinen, award-winning author of The Ruins of Us and The Unraveling of Mercy Louis; Benjamin Myers, Poet Laureate of Oklahoma; author of Lapse Americana and Elegy for Trains; the Tulsa City Library's own Cindy Hulsey. The trio flung endless praise and quips at both Kristin/Kristen's, but made the painful decision to advance Adams as the night's first finalist. 

Then the brilliant Oklahoma eve zipped into Round 2, with the fabulist-esque fiction of Andrew Marshall, a new author representing Nimrod International Journal of Poetry and Prose up against an all-true-all-the-time tale by Kathryn Parkman of This Land Press.

Again the mic was handed to the judges who delivered oddballetry, wisdom and laughs before making the night's second impossible decision, naming Marshall the night's second finalist. 

Then up stepped LDM creator Adrian Todd Zuniga who announced the night's finale: Literary Charades, bringing up Booksmart Tulsa's own Jeff Martin to lead a team of three "charadists," as the three-person team acted out book titles for Adams and Marshall to guess at. It went down to the wire, and with everything to play for, Adams sung out the final answer, winning him the LDM Tulsa, Ep. 5 crown, and literary immortality to go with it.