Reading Den

Erika Krouse is the author of four books of fiction and nonfiction, most recently the forthcoming collection of short stories, Save Me, Stranger, out with Flatiron Books in January 2025. Erika’s memoir, Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation, is a New York Times Editors’ Choice, winner of the Edgar Award, the Colorado Book Award, and the Housatonic Book Award. Her short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire.com, and other places. Erika mentors for the Book Project at Lighthouse Writers Workshop, where she won the Beacon Award for Teaching Excellence.

What’s your best writing advice?

For me, the best advice has always come in the form of criticisms. It’s hard to pick a “best,” but I do know that I’m still heavily influenced by the very first critique I ever got, which was, basically, “Nobody can understand what the hell you’re trying to say.” From that, I learned that it doesn’t matter how fancy my writing was; the point was to have something worth saying, and to say it clearly and cleanly. For me, the first part is the harder part.

How have you found writing community among Colorado creatives?

I feel fortunate to be involved with Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, a nonprofit that has helped me connect with so many different and wonderful writers. It’s a very special home for me, and I love it. I can’t imagine what kind of writer I would have become without the Lighthouse community.

What do you love about living in Colorado?

I’m in love with the mix of nature and culture—I’ll be having an intellectual discussion with a writer I respect, and then I look up and there’s a bear in a tree.

What are you reading right now?

I just finished a collection of short stories that’s coming out in January—like, I finished proofs two hours ago—so I’m a bit adrift at this very moment. I recently finished everything I could find by Mieko Kawakami, and next I’ll reread Ann Petry’s The Street because it’s so good.

What will you be reading at the event and what is meaningful about this selection?

I’ll be reading the beginning of my memoir, Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation. It’s the story of my experience as a rookie private investigator working on the first-ever Title IX sexual assault case in history. I’m looking forward to it!

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