Reading Den

Patricia McCrystal is a writer from Arvada, Colorado. She received her MFA at Regis University. Her work can be found in Joyland Magazine, Epiphany Magazine, Oyster River Pages, JMWW Journal, Atticus Review and more, and on PBS. Her stories have made the fiction shortlist for the Disquiet International Literary Award, and have won the Slippery Elm Prose Prize. Her work has received a Pushcart Prize nomination, a Best of Net nomination, and a Best American Short Stories nomination. Patty is a Creative Writing Instructor for the Frames Prison Program through the Brink Literacy Project. She is also a Volunteer Editor for the Hard Times workshop, a community writing program for those experiencing homelessness and economic hardship, hosted through Lighthouse Writers Workshop and Write Denver.

What’s your best writing advice?

“Lean into your eccentricities.” – Poet Srikanth Reddy

How have you found writing community among Colorado creatives and how does it differ from other writing communities?

I’ve connected with writers and found community among Colorado creatives through so many different channels, including getting my MFA at Regis University, Lighthouse Writers Workshop classes, attending community writing groups and creating my own creative writing group for women and non-binary writers called VIRAGO, checking out open mics and community readings, volunteering with local literary magazines, and social media.

I’ve heard there are some larger cities where ego and exclusivity can poison the well. I find that type of posturing childish and self-isolating and, frankly, reflective of the nauseating symptoms of capitalism and white supremacy, considering how “tastemakers” in literature have historically been dominated by an overrepresentation of cis/white/hetero/able-bodied readers.

What do you love about being a writer in Colorado? 

I grew up in Colorado, and only left for a few years to work for the Coquille tribe on the Oregon coast from 2012-2014. I came back to attend Denver University’s Publishing Institute and work at the Boulder Bookstore, and I bopped around to various readings and open mics, attended some community writing workshops, and had a few things published in various small presses. I signed up for a few Lighthouse courses in 2018, and decided to make the switch from writing primarily poetry to short fiction. I really started to find my footing in Denver’s creative writing community in tandem with getting my MFA at Regis University, starting around 2019. 

I’m constantly overwhelmed with gratitude by how generous and inspiring Denver’s creative writing community is. People really show up to support and amplify each other’s work and to celebrate each other’s wins—which, in the writing world, are hard earned over years of toil.

What are you reading right now?

I’m reading MARTYR! by Kaveh Akbar, which is shaping up to be my favorite book I’ve read this year. I can’t emphasize enough how fucking good this book is.

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

I’ll first read a published flash piece that was inspired by a real news headline on ClickOrlando.com, which I wrote at the Kenyon Review Writers workshop last summer. 

I’ll also read a new flash piece I’m still working on about the reintroduction of wolves to Colorado, which I find fascinating. Beyond the human arguments for and against reintroduction, I wonder about the wolves’ experience in being kidnapped and released in a strange new land while humanity surveils and speculates and politicizes their quest for survival.

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