Established in April 2007, Liars’ League – www.liarsleague.com – is a themed live fiction night, where professional actors (from our company of around 100) read new short stories by writers from around the world. Events are held bimonthly (Feb/Apr/Jun/Aug/Oct/Dec) on the second Tuesday of the month at The Phoenix pub in Cavendish Square, London W1, and readings are filmed in HD for YouTube and podcast for free download. We are also a multimedia online magazine, and our ever-growing archive holds over 500 stories and counting, all of which are recorded as MP3s and the majority of which also feature accompanying videos of actors’ readings.

Liars’ League has been named as one of London’s Top 5 storytelling experiences by London Calling, it’s one of the Guardian’s top UK storytellling nights, has won a Saboteur Award for Best Regular Spoken Word night, and had three of our events broadcast on BBC Radio 4.  We also have Liars’ League franchises in New York City and Hong Kong.

Want to come along or contribute?
If you like the sound of what we do and would like to join our mailing list to get information on our monthly events and deadlines, just send an email to liars@liarsleague.com with Mailing List in the subject line and we’ll add you. If you’d like to write or act for us, please check our Forthcoming Events & Themes page and send us a suitable story – 800-2000 words long, anonymised, and on-theme.  Full submissions guidelines are here.

Want some multimedia?
Here’s our Facebook page
Here’s our Twitter (we’re @liarsleague)
Here’s our YouTube channel with over 250 HD videos and counting.
Here’s our podcast
Here’s our podcast archive from 2012
Here’s our podcast archive from 2011
Here’s the podcast from our Northern cousin Liars’ League Leeds
Here’s the podcast from our American branch Liars’ League NYC
Here’s our Asian cousin, Liars’ League Hong Kong

Reviews, interviews and so forth
April 2015 – Three short stories broadcast on BBC Radio 4
May 2014 – LL won the Saboteur Award for Best Regular Spoken Word night
10 October 2013 – Katy Darby, Director and co-founder of the League, discussed LL, Alice Munro’s Nobel and the rise of short stories on Radio 4’s The World Tonight. Click to play.
17 July 2013 – Pinch Magazine reviews the launch of Granta 124: Travel, at which actors David Mildon, Louisa Gummer & Cliff Chapman read extracts from the magazine.
13 July 2013 – Spaces Literary Magazine interviews Liars Katy, Liam and Cliff about … everything, really.
7 July 2013 – Sabotage reviews our second collaborative anthology with Arachne Press, Lovers’ Lies.
28 May 2013 – Catriona Troth’s lovely long article about us in WordsWithJam
There are also various other titbits dotted around the site – an interview with Annexe magazine on the homepage, and one with our regular contributor Niall Boyce on what makes a good LL story.

What others think …
“Liars’ League brings together actors and writers and lets each do what they are good at. The result is live fiction at its best. Funny, well presented, quirky, enjoyable.” ~ Pulp Net

“These are great times for London’s grass-roots literature; the London Lit Plus festival is going great guns, there’s Litro getting literature onto the tube, and now this rather neat idea. It’s simple. Writers submit short stories on whatever the month’s theme is… Then, above a pub, naturally, a gang of actors read the best ones aloud, in suitably gripping/seductive voices to the adoring throng (i.e. you lot). You lot cheer wildly; the actors bow; beer is drunk and everyone goes home happy as you like. Like all the best ideas – simple.” ~ Le Cool

“Liars’ League, a monthly fiction event, is a collaborative force like none we have seen out there thus far. Writers and actors pair up to breathe life into works. Everybody does win in this scenario. What a great opportunity for a writer – to see their work interpreted and performed by a complete stranger. What a unique venture they have going here – and God, we love that logo. Subscribe to the RSS feed and the podcast so you can listen to the results of this collaborative effort.” ~ Literary Fever

“We at Annexe HQ love the storytelling extravaganza that is Liars’ League. How could we not? There is something almost illicit about Liars’ League. An eager audience flows into a darkened basement to hear secret stories. The out-of-time setting conjures up a future where storytelling has been outlawed and enigmatic speakeasies have emerged in the shadows of the city.” ~ Annexe Magazine

Annexe’s editor Nick also did an interview with Liar Katy here

What authors think …
“A wonderful thing the Liars are doing, a wonderful boost for the short story and for live story-telling.” ~ Author Tania Hershman

“Thanks for making last Tuesday a really special night for me – to have my first piece of published work performed was something I never imagined would happen when I started writing, so it really was a very memorable occasion and a huge compliment. It was very clear at the rehearsal that you all put a lot of energy and passion into Liars’ League and to have the chance to be a part of that is really, really appreciated.” ~ Author Rob Mukherjee

“Thank you for doing what you do. It almost makes me wish I was English.” ~ American author Dean Kisling

“Thanks so much for a wonderful experience. Liars’ League has been super from first contact (I don’t say “from first to last,” because I don’t want this to be the last). I couldn’t be more pleased or impressed. Don’t ever underestimate the appeal of the service you provide. To have a story read before a live audience by a professional actor/actress is hard to top.” ~ Author Stephen Parrish

What audiences think …
“Thank you for a lovely evening. I particularly enjoyed the spaces between the words. And the words of course, but I loved the spaces. I learnt to talk in comedy clubs and there as I’m sure you know, spaces are very risky and rare. To have spaces in which the words can grow is a luxury.” ~ Audience member James Campbell

“I’m borderline allergic to the theatre, but my prejudice was well and truly revealed to be just that. I’m won over, as this was a great listening experience, and each actor had me hooked from the start.” ~ Audience member Hilaire

“The readings were, well brilliant. I’ve never really experienced story telling before, and I’m definitely hooked. The quality of the writing and the actors’ performances themselves were nothing short of fantastic. They had you laughing, gasping, sighing and shuddering through the whole evening. Needless to say, we will definitely be back.” ~ Audience member Sally Mavin

Or, as we put it: Writers write. Actors read. Audience listens. Everybody wins.