Have you ever been to a literary reading and, despite your best intentions, found yourself in need of a strong coffee just to make it through?
You are not alone.
Reading a book is a private experience. You can stop when you like or stay up late getting lost in another world. It is entirely up to you.
Public readings, on the other hand, can be hit-or-miss. If you are unlucky, the only person getting lost in another world is the author, while everyone else is discreetly glancing at their watches.
Later, you check your email and scroll through Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube for more entertaining and less time-consuming ways to access stories.
With so much competition for our attention, do books and literary readings stand a chance in the long run?
In 2006, that concern prompted Adrian Todd Zuniga, Elizabeth Koch, and Dennis DiClaudio to look for a new way to showcase writers’ work.
They wanted to get audiences excited about literature afgain. But how?
The answer debuted at The Back Room, a speakeasy in New York City.
This was not an exercise in coddling authors or letting them read for as long as they liked. It was a battle of brevity, where only the most succinct and compelling would survive, with just minutes to capture the audience’s attention.
The Literary Death Match was born.
Despite the dramatic name, the event is high energy and playful, says co-organiser and author Adrian Todd Zuniga.
At each Literary Death Match, four handpicked writers read their work for up to seven minutes. Three judges then assess the performances from different angles: literary merit, stage presence, and the somewhat mysterious category of “intangibles.”
The two finalists face off in a light-hearted game to determine the winner.
From the beginning, the idea of turning literary readings into performance gained traction. For the very first event, the team secured musician Moby as a judge. Many other high-profile names followed.
Judges are not limited to authors. They come from a wide range of backgrounds, including acting, comedy, dance, and music.
With a strict seven-minute limit per reader, the total reading time stays under 30 minutes.
Zuniga says the time cap was inspired by watching attention spans fade at conventional readings.
“Within the literary community, there is this idea that we never cut anybody off,” he says.
“We would go to readings and somebody would read for five minutes and be excellent, and then you would see someone read for 25 minutes and everybody wanted to gouge their eyes out.”
Keeping literary readings short sets clear expectations and allows the organisers to build entertainment around the work.
There is also a stand-up element, with Zuniga delivering an opening monologue and judges offering spontaneous commentary. He says this format works even alongside serious or heartbreaking material.
The goal is to introduce audiences to new authors and provoke thought, without taking itself too seriously.
After more than a dozen years and over 480 matches in 37 cities worldwide, Literary Death Match has helped to revive literature readings.
Zuniga recalls some extraordinary audience responses, including 800-seat venues so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
One of his favourite moments took place at the San Antonio Book Festival, when author Antonio Sacre delivered a piece on stripping in relation to writing.
Sacre spoke about stripping away everything until only the essential remained. He turned the metaphor into a physical performance, and the audience erupted.
“People didn’t just give him a standing ovation. They jumped up. Women came and threw dollar bills on the stage,” Zuniga recalls.
“It was amazing to watch that response. People really lost it. I loved that moment.”
Zuniga’s ambitions extend beyond the live stage. He believes that in today’s political climate, when truth and reliable information matter deeply, literature is experiencing a revival and should reach broader platforms.
He is currently working on a documentary and hopes to bring Literary Death Match to the screen. A meeting with Netflix, he says, could be the next step.
Get a taste of how a Literary Death Match works (video courtesy of LDM):
You can experience your own death match at the San Miguel Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival in February 2019.
Produced for the San Miguel Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival, held annually in Mexico.