Colorado book event attendees say 'they barely survived' shambolic conference, ... trends now
Thousands of avid book readers slammed a shambolic Colorado book event amid reports of harassment, theft, assault and mismanagement.
The 'Readers Take Denver' event, held April 18 to 21, left attendees branding themselves 'survivors,' while organizers have already canceled next year's conference.
Bestselling author Rebecca Yarros led criticism of the event, as she echoed complaints about a lack of security, aggressive staff and pre-ordered books that were not delivered on time.
'Readers, on behalf of every author at the event, I’m sorry,' Yarros wrote in a scathing Facebook post.
The 'Readers Take Denver' event has been slammed by attendees and authors amid reports of harassment, theft, assault and mismanagement
One attendee claimed that when she suffered a 'hypoglycemic moment', she was 'screamed at by staff to 'get the f*** up off the floor' by staff
Yarros continued by blaming organizers for a variety of issues, including what she perceived as a 'borderline abusive' workload placed on volunteers at the four-day conference.
'When it comes to the events of this weekend, many have been mistreated,' she wrote.
Yarros claimed organizers shut lights off to herd readers because they 'weren't moving fast enough,' deadnamed an author and refused to change their badge name and failed to organize enough time for readers to get signings despite a pledge for there to be 'no lines' at the event.
Addressing attendees, Yarros concluded, 'I’m so sorry you couldn’t get your preorders, couldn’t see the authors you wanted to.
'I’m sorry registration took hours, sorry food ran out, sorry security wasn’t tight enough at the night events, sorry some volunteers raised voices.
'Sorry you did not get to bask in the overwhelming joy that spending three days in the book world should give you.'
Disappointed readers told the Denver Post that the shambolic schedule was a 'nightmare' and said it failed to live up to promises made by organizer Lisa Renee Jones.
Organizer Lisa Renee Jones pledged to host the event with no lines, but attendees said they were disappointed to be left waiting for hours
Author Rebecca Yarros blamed organizers for a variety of issues, including what she perceived as a 'borderline abusive' workload placed on volunteers and mismanagement
Readers said they struggled to enjoy the conference because of the 'chaos,' with one author saying 'it was an absolute f****** horror show we all had to go through'
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