Thousands of avid readers have criticized a chaotic event in Colorado as “the Fyre book festival” after reports of harassment, theft, assault and mismanagement.
The ‘Readers Take Denver’ event, held April 18-21, left attendees calling themselves ‘survivors,’ while organizers have already canceled it. next year’s conference.
Best-selling author Rebecca Yarros led criticism of the exhibition, echoing complaints about lack of security, aggressive staff and pre-ordered books that were not delivered on time.
“Readers, on behalf of all the authors present at the event, I am sorry,” Yarros wrote in a scathing Facebook post.
The ‘Readers Take Denver’ event has come under fire from attendees and authors amid reports of harassment, theft, assault and mismanagement.
One attendee claimed that when he suffered a “moment of hypoglycemia,” staff yelled at him to “get off the floor.”
Yarros went on to blame organizers for a variety of issues, including what she perceived as an “almost abusive” workload imposed on volunteers at the four-day conference.
“As far as the events of this weekend go, many have been mistreated,” he wrote.
Yarros claimed that organizers turned off the lights on herd readers because they “weren’t moving fast enough,” named an author and refused to change the name of their badge, and didn’t organize enough time for readers to get signatures. despite the promise that there would be no “no.” lines’ at the event.
Addressing attendees, Yarros concluded: “I’m so sorry that you couldn’t get your pre-orders, that you couldn’t see the authors you wanted.”
‘I’m sorry that registration took hours, I’m sorry that the food ran out, I’m sorry that security wasn’t tight enough at the evening events, I’m sorry that some volunteers raised their voices.
“I’m sorry you weren’t able to enjoy the overwhelming joy that spending three days in the world of the book should bring you.”
Disappointed readers told Denver Post He called the chaotic schedule a “nightmare” and said it fell short of promises made by organizer Lisa Renee Jones.
TikToker Cass shared photos of the black eye she said she received at the event
Organizer Lisa Renee Jones promised to host the event without lines, but attendees said they were disappointed at having to wait for hours.
Author Rebecca Yarros blamed organizers for a variety of problems, including what she perceived as an “almost abusive” workload imposed on volunteers and poor management.
Readers said they struggled to enjoy the conference because of the “chaos,” with one author saying “it was an absolute horror show we all had to go through.”
“I’ve been to a lot of conferences and this, by far, was the worst one I’ve ever been to,” said Sarah Slusarczyk, a 32-year-old woman who traveled from Michigan for the event.
Readers shelled out up to $375 to attend the event held at the Gaylord Rockies Resort, and Renee Jones reportedly claimed in an email to attendees after the event that even the praise for her efforts moved her to tears.
However, reports indicate that at least one person claimed they were pushed by a volunteer, which Renee Jones insisted was handled professionally.
“In the event that anyone has claimed that a volunteer put their hands on anyone, I involved security IMMEDIATELY,” he wrote in the email, according to the Denver Post.
Renee Jones did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.
Allegations of aggressive behavior were also cited in a blog entry by author Abigail Owen, who said she heard about incidents of “harassment, assault” and “theft.”
Besides that, a TikToker named Cass He detailed the black eye he said he received during the event.
Allegations of unprofessional behavior at the event also emerged on TikTok, with one woman claiming she was confronted by aggressive staff when she suffered a medical emergency.
“I was having a hypoglycemic moment and the staff yelled at me to get off the floor,” said TikTok user Well Read Nurse.
He continued: ‘There were so many horrible experiences among readers, vendors, authors, personal assistants and volunteers alike.
“This wasn’t just a failure in communication, it’s a systemic problem with this program.”
Another author at the event, Kate Hall, detailed her experience in a 30-minute YouTube video, which she titled: ‘I (barely) survived readers take Denver 2024.’
“I was really hoping this would get better, but they just kept getting worse and worse,” he said, sporting a black eye in his video.
“The whole weekend was so chaotic… it was an absolute horror show that we all had to go through.”
Hall said organizers did not allow authors to set up their book signing tables on time and were exhausted by the long lines.
Long lines waiting for authors at the event (pictured) led one exasperated attendee to describe it as “worse than Disney, and there wasn’t even transportation at the end.”
Renee Jones promoted the event as ideal for book lovers hoping to meet their favorite authors, as she promised there would be no lines and attendees were supposed to use a timed ticketing system.
But Kelli Meyer, who describes herself as an “RTD survivor,” said the system didn’t work and “all we did was stand in line.” It was total nonsense.’
“It was worse than Disney, and there wasn’t even transportation at the end,” he added, noting that there were lines around the hotel that caused confusion about which author they were waiting for.
This also reportedly led some readers to wait hours in the wrong lines, and volunteers gave incorrect information.
Author Rhian Cahill added in a blog post that it was a “disorganized mess.”
‘I witnessed the total chaos of the event, the lack of communication between the organizer and her volunteers, between the volunteers themselves, between the volunteers and the attendees. “It was crazy how little anyone seemed to know about what was going on,” she wrote.