…is to tell 5-7 friends about Write Club, so here goes: Ian Belknap invented Write Club, literature as bloodsport, here in Chicago. Eric Ruelle, pictured below brought the concept to DePaul:

That concept, as it operates in the University setting, is as follows: 4 bouts of 2 opposing writers/2 opposing ideas, 5 minutes apiece (Except for the Partner’s Round, which is 7 minutes), no holds barred and the audience picks a winner. Last night, I competed against my fellow creative writing professor, the amazing poet and performer Mark Turcotte. He read about BRANCHES and I read about ROOTS:

I “won,” but all the performers were so outstanding, I’d sort of go so far as to argue that everybody came away victorious. The other participants included Alex Gavlick reading a piece about GIVE (even though his scheduled opponent, reading about TAKE, had to cancel); Isabelle Johnson reading about REVENGE versus Dylan Farr reading about MERCY, and then in the partners round Charlie Sussman  and Harry Breitner reading about COMEDY versus Sarah Magnuson and host Eric Ruelle reading about TRAGEDY. The audience and the blue ribbon panelists who voted on their behalf…

…were fantastic, too. Thanks to Eric Ruelle for inviting me to participate, for Mark for being such a worthy opponent, and Eric Plattner for the photos.