Today’s guest on the Morning Media Menu was Adrian Todd Zuniga, founder of the Literary Death Match reading series. Press play below to listen on SoundCloud.
The author event “marries the literary and performative aspects of Def Poetry Jam, rapier-witted quips of American Idol’s judging (without any meanness), and the ridiculousness and hilarity of Double Dare.” The series continues to grow and will tape its first TV pilot in a week.
Zuniga shared advice for making your next author reading better: “Our big thing is to bring disperate people together, by mixing up actors, comedians and authors … That’s the basis of our success. If you and your three friends are going to do a reading, you’re going to get a certain audience. But the goal in readings is always to get the biggest audience possible.”
He concluded: “I’m really keen on making every show a show. It’s not a reading, it’s an event. I describe it more as a spectacle, and I host in a PT Barnum style. Not everybody has a huge personality, but give everything you got to making the show as exciting as possible for people. People have a lot to do, in the course of this conversation. You have to think how people spend their time and you have to reward them for leaving the house and coming to your thing.”
Press play below to listen to the full interview…