On Friday April 1, Chris Abani, author of The Face: Cartography of the Void, will join Susan Orlean, Danez Smith, and Lena Waithe in Literary Death Match's ten-year-anniversary event in Los Angeles.
In what will stand as the greatest night in Literary Death Match's storied ten-year history, we're aiming to blow the doors off with our AWP Super-Spectacular at The Theatre at Ace Hotel on none other than April Fool's Day. Co-presented by the Otherppl podcast and Painted Bride Quarterly, this gorgeous theatre, and this brilliant night, deserves a sell-out. Preorder now!
What is Literary Death Match? Four writers read their own work for seven minutes or less, and are then judged by three all-star judges. Two finalists are chosen to compete in the Literary Death Match finale, a vaguely-literary game to decide the ultimate winner.
JUDGES:
Literary Merit: TBA
Performance: Lena Waithe, actor (Master of None), writer (Bones), producer (Dear White People)
Intangibles: TBA
Super-Intangibles: TBA
READERS:
* Amber Tamblyn, actress (127 Hours; Inside Amy Schumer); author of Dark Sparkler
* Danez Smith, award-winning poet, author of [insert] boy, featured on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
* Susan Orlean, New Yorker staff writer and author of The Orchid Thief, Rin Tin Tin, and Saturday Night
* Chris Abani, award-winning poet and novelist (The Secret History of Las Vegas), TED Talks vet, recipient of PEN USA Freedom-to-Write Award and the California Book Award and PEN Hemingway Book Prize
Plus!
INTERVIEW: A seven-minute interlude by Otherppl's Brad Listi with So Sad Today's Melissa Broder
MUSICAL GUEST Lucinda Belle, harpist & Oscar long-listed singer from the forthcoming Think Big : Like Me
VIDEO: the first-ever screening of our new web show LDM Book Report
Hosted by LDM creator Adrian Todd Zuniga. Produced by Hannah Settle.
When: Friday, April 1, 2016 at 8:00pm; doors at 7pm; attendees-only afterparty at the rooftop bar
Where: Theatre at Ace Hotel, 929 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90015
Cost: $20 and $30. Reserve tickets here.
By Chris Abani
Chicago Review of Books Best Nonfiction Books of 2016
The Face Series
“A fascinating meditation on identity that explores the novelist’s own mixed heritage and mixed feelings….[Abani is] a true citizen of the world….With great insight and compassion, Abani reveals that behind his—and every—face are unseen scars.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
Paperback • ISBN: 9781632060433
Publication date: Mar 1, 2016