Last Man Sliding

Last night, I took part in Literary Death Match -- a reading series -- at Sara Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side. (That's me, at right.) The other readers were Gabrielle Mitchell-Marell, Debbie Kuan, and Amy Shearn. We were judged by Jeff Gordinier, Ben Greenman, and Julie Klausner.

The "death match" is actually a challenge half literary/half physical. In the first round, there are two reading matches. My opponent was Amy Shearn, who couldn't have been nicer, and who read two brief but related stories. She has a novel coming out next month called How Far is the Ocean From Here, and it's already been called an "accomplished and sophisticated debut" by Publishers Weekly. I managed to advance, and faced Debbie Kuan in the finals. The finals entailed walking over to a kids' playground at the park, sack racing (with kitchen garbage bags), and trying to get down a slide before your opponent. I take little pride in saying I won, given that not only am I several inches taller than Debbie (good for hopping), but I was wearing Converse sneakers and she had on lovely (but not good for hopping) flats.

Thanks to the series hosts, Todd Zuniga and Terry Selucky, for having me on board. And special thanks to Odile and Lina, who asked me to represent Titlepage at the event. I'm going to post the story that I read on the blog sometime this weekend. It's long, so I don't want it to clog up a week of posting. I'll give it Saturday and Sunday to itself, and then start bumping it down...