Opium’s Literary Death Match challenges the notion that a reading series has to be a mind-numbing affair hosted in a drafty room with no booze breaks. The Death Match is a competitive, humor-centric reading series that features four literary publications, presses or concerns (both online and in print) in an edge-of-your-seat read-off. Readers do their thing for ten minutes or less, and three guest-star judges affectionately discuss their favorites based on three categories: literary merit, performance and intangibles. The two finalists then compete in a Death Match challenge to decide the ultimate winner.
About Opium’s
Literary Death Match
Past Readers
Kim Addonizio
Tom Barbash
Todd Brotze
Alan Black
Lisa K. Buchanan
Sean Casey
Bryan Charles
Marianna Cherry
Justin Chin
Tom Corwin
Rhea DeRose-Weiss
Dennis DiClaudio
Joel Dovev
Andy Dugas
Tony Dushane
Rupert Estanislao
Tyler C. Gore
Daphne Gottleib
Daniel Handler
Matt Herlihy
Thomas Hopkins
Andy Horwitz
Sam Hurwitt Elizabeth Koch
Debbie Kuan
Tao Lin
Jon Longhi
Christina Kallery
Gary Kamiya
Heather Kelley
Suzanne Kleid
Andrew Lam
Regina Louise
Joshua Mandelbaum
Eric B. Martin
Clive Matson
Joyce Maynard
Kristin McGonigle
Lincoln Michel
Gabrielle Mitchell-Marell
Tim Mucci
Manuel Munoz
Tony O’Neill
Tom Perrotta
Eric Puchner
Carol Queen
Andy Raskin
Kirk Read
Evan Rehill
Barbara Jane Reyes
Matt Rohrer
Alex Rose
Michelle Richmond
Thaddeus Rutkowski
Shya Scanlon
Eric Schniewinde
Damion Searls
Amy Shearn
Bucky Sinister
Amy Sohn
Wesley Stace
Katherine Taylor
Evany Thomas
Maureen Tkacik
Pauls Toutonghi
Ted Travelstead
Deb Olin Unferth
Timmy Waldron
Jensen Whelan
John Williams
Jon Wolanske
Geoff Wolinetz
Mishna Wolff
Todd Zuniga
Past Magazines
3:AM
Ballyhoo Stories
Big Ugly Review
Canteen
Cherry Bleeds
Crazy Child
The Crier
Edifice Wrecked
elimae
failbetter
Lost Magazine
Fiction Attic
Five Chapters
Fourteen Hills
Hobart
Instant City
Kitchen Sink
McSweeney’s
MeThree
Missouri Review
n+1
Nerve
New York Tyrant
NOON
One Story
Open City
Other Magazine
Parthenon West Review
Pindeldyboz
Post Road
Quick Fiction
Redroom.com
Salon
Scribbler
Slice
Smith Magazine
Sweet Fancy Moses
Swink
Unlikely Stories
Whore!
Word Riot
Yankee Pot Roast
Zoetrope: All-Story
Past Publishers
Heyday Books
Hotel St. George Press
MacAdam/Cage
Manic D Press
Muumuu House
Soft Skull Press
Watchword Press
Past
Reading Series
Guerrilla Lit
Inside Story Time
L’s Literary Upstart
Poetry vs. Comedy
Porchlight
Progressive Reading Series
Vermin on the Mount
Writer's With Drinks
Past Literary Entities
826 Valencia
Brooklyn Writers Space
Litquake
Past Performance Groups
Killing My Lobster
Suicide Kings
Past Sponsors
Past Judges
Lesley Arfin
Rob Baedeker
Alan Black
Lee Bob Black
Kurt Bodden
Jack Boulware
Jodi Bullock
Gill Bumby
Jill Bumby
Scott Campbell
Alana Conner
Dennis DiClaudio
Joel Dovev
Tony DuShane
Helena Echlin
Stephen Elliott
Sean Finney
Joshua Furst
Larry Gallagher
Jane Ganahl
Gravity Goldberg
David Goodwillie
Jeff Gordinier
Ben Greenman
Matt Herlihy
Cicily Janus
Howard Junker
Julie Klausner
Jack Kukoda
Shaun Landry
Ian Lendler
Todd Levin
Mia Lipman
Beth Lisick
Ben Mainwaring
Laura Lee Mattingly
Jesse McKinley
Ben Mainwaring
Moby
Leigh Newman
Elise Proulx
Michelle Richmond
Damion Searls
Wesley Stace
Amanda Stearn
Anika Streitfeld
Danielle Svetcov
Ted Travelstead
Oscar Villalon
Ted Weinstein
Jon Wolanske
Todd Zuniga
The Literary Death Match was co-created by Todd Zuniga (pictured), Elizabeth Koch & Dennis DiClaudio.
Past Winners
Tao Lin, Muumuu Press
(NYC Ep. 10, November, 2008)
Dennis DiClaudio, Guerrilla Lit
(NYC Ep. 9, October, 2008)
Eric Puchner, Zoetrope: All-Story
(SF, Ep. 12, October, 2008)
Kim Addonizio, Litquake
(SF Ep. 11, September, 2008)
Alan Black, Redroom.com
(SF Ep. 10, July, 2008)
John Williams, Titlepage.tv
(NYC Ep. 7, June, 2008)
Aaron Garretson, Opium
(NYC Ep. 6, May, 2008)
Rupert Estanislao, Suicide Kings
(SF, April, 2008)
Andrew Lam, Heyday Books
(SF, March, 2008)
Tony DuShane, Cherry Bleeds
(SF, February, 2008)
Jon Wolanske, Killing My Lobster
(SF, November, 2007)
Giancarlo DiTrapano, NY Tyrant
(NYC, October, 2007)
Daniel Handler, Opium
(SF, October, 2007)
Bucky Sinister, Progressive Reading Series
(SF, September, 2007)
Kirk Read, Instant City
(SF, August, 2007)
Sam Hurwitt, Kitchen Sink
(SF, July 2007)
Tony O’Neill, 3:AM
(NYC, July 2007)
Sam Hurwitt, Kitchen Sink
(SF, July 2007)
Todd Zuniga, Opium
(NYC, June 2006)
Sean Casey, McSweeney’s
(NYC, May 2006)
Manuel Munoz, Swink
(NYC, April 2006)
Ted Travelstead, Sweet Fancy Moses (NYC, March 2006)
Curated by Sky Hornig in SF, and Todd Zuniga (pictured) in NYC. Contact us to participate, sponsor or opine.
“The best part of being on stage at the Literary Death Match is gazing out into the crowd and fantasizing that all of those beautiful, literary-minded people are there for you and you alone. And that every one of them wants to buy you a scotch.”
--Michelle Richmond, author of The Year of Fog