WOMAD Festival, Ep. 1

28 July, 2024 — we hosted the first ever Literary Death Match at Womad Festival in Malmesbury, Wiltshire (UK) that saw Erin Fornoff defeat Zahra Barri in a breathtaking battle of One Star Wonder that won Fornoff the LDM Womad, Ep. 1 medal, and literary immortality to go with it. 

Here's the full lineup from the night of: 

ALL-STAR JUDGES

Literary Merit: John Mitchinson, publisher and founder of award-winning crowdfunding publisher Unbound

Performance: Nikesh Shukla, novelist, screenwriter, currently working on a Marvel Spider-Man India comic book miniseries.

Intangibles: Patrick Grant, bestselling author, clothier and TV presenter of BBC1's The Great British Sewing Bee

ALL-STAR READERS

Zahra Barri, stand-up comedian, author of Daughters of the Nile

Jasmine Gardosi, Birmingham Poet Laureate, multiple slam champion, beatboxer, and Honorary Doctor of Letters (Birmingham Newman University). 

Stuart Evers, author of Your Father Sends His Love, If This is Home, Ten Stories About Smoking and The Blind Light.

Erin Fornoff, writer and performer. Known for her poetry play: 'We Are An Archipelago;' and her books: Hymn to the Reckless and Folk Heroes