Ogden, Ep. 3

November 10, 2023 — Literary Death Match returned to gorgeous Ogden and the Utah Humanities Book Festival for a raucous, inspiring night at Nurture the Creative Mind that saw Libby Leonard topple co-finalist Patrick Ramsay in a Literary Spelling Bee III finale that won Leonard literary immortality and the LDM Ogden, Ep. 3 crown. 

Here's the full lineup from the night: 

JUDGES: 
Literary Merit: Abraham Smith, author of poetry collections Dear Weirdo, Bear Lite Inn, and Destruction of Man, he improvises poems inside songs with the Snarlin’ Yarns and is co-director of Creative Writing at Weber State

Performance: Melissa Salguero, Guatemalan poet, educator, 2020 nominee for the Pushcart Prize in poetry, recipient of the Academy of American Poets, community engagement manager at Utah Presents and box office manager for The Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival 

Intangibles: Amir Jackson, veteran, community organizer, activist, Founder and Director of Nurture the Creative Mind and recipient of the Mayor's Arts Education Award, Red Cross Heroes Recognition Award and Utah Business Community Involvement Award

READERS: 
Round 1: 
* Sean Davis, author of The Wax Bullet War, a Purple Heart Iraq War veteran, winner of the Legionnaire of the Year Award, recipient of the Emily Gottfried Emerging Leader, Human Rights award

* Libby Leonard, poet and a regular haunt at the thrift store, she teaches English at Weber State University and Utah Tech’s Higher Education for Incarcerated Youth Program. She's a contributing writer for SLUG Magazine, and her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Brazos River Review, Wrongdoing Magazine, HAD, and Alien Magazine

Round 2:
* Patrick Ramsay, queer poet, author of the debut poetry chapbook, Butterflies are Rare in Beehives, and owner of the indie bookshop Happy Magpie Book & Quill. Find him on Instagram at @writepatrick

* Ashley Farmer, award-winning author of Dear Damage, winner of the 2022 International Rubery Book Award in Nonfiction and the 2020 Sarabande Series in Kentucky Literature, she's also won Ninth Letter’s Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Los Angeles Review’s Short Fiction Award

Hosted by LDM creator Adrian Todd Zuniga (author of the award-nominated novel Collision Theory)

Produced by Kase Johnstun, novelist and manager at Utah Center for the Book

Where: Nurture the Creative Mind, 2501 Wall Ave, Ogden (map)
When: November 10, 7pm-830pm 
Cost: Free — RSVP for Tix (donations welcome at the door)