Reading Den

Join us on October 30, 2024 at Fort Greene for the next installment of the Reading Den series.

The event is free to the public and begins at 7pm. Registration is encouraged.

Cynthia Swanson is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the psychological suspense novels The Bookseller, The Glass Forest, and Anyone But Her. Cynthia is also the editor of the Colorado Book Award winning anthology Denver Noir, which features dark, morally ambiguous stories set in and around Denver, written by fourteen notable literary and mystery authors. She lives with her family in Denver.

Rachel Horak Dempsey is playwright and dark fiction author. Her prose appears in anthologies by Shacklebound Books, Brigids Gate Press, Timber Ghost Press, Twenty Bellows (Pushcart nominated 2024) and others. She holds a BFA in Drama and English from NYU, a Master’s in Journalism from Georgetown and an MFA from Regis University in Denver where she currently lives with her family.

Shastri Akella‘s debut novel The Sea Elephants has been published by Flatiron Books (USA, Canada) and Penguin (India). He was a writing resident at the Fine Arts Works Center (2021) and the Oak Springs Garden Foundation (2023). He’s winner of 2022 FracturedLit Flash Fiction Contest and the 2023 Best Microfiction Contest. His writing has appeared in Guernica, Fairy Tale Review, CRAFT, The Masters Review, Electric Literature, World Literature Review, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing and PhD. in Comparative Literature at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He’s an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Michigan State University. 

Angela Sylvaine is a self-proclaimed cheerful goth who writes speculative fiction and poetry. Horror-comedy fans enjoy her novel, Frost Bite, a ‘90s sci-fi horror comedy, and her retro 80s YA mall slasher novella, Chopping Spree. For sad girl horror, check out her debut short story collection, The Dead Spot: Stories of Lost Girls. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in or on over fifty anthologies, magazines, and podcasts, including Southwest Review, Apex, and The NoSleep Podcast. She lives in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains with her sweetheart and three creepy cats.

Mimi Hayes is an American comedian and author of “I’ll Be OK, It’s Just a Hole in My Head.” Hayes wrote her first memoir while recovering from a brain injury at the age of twenty-two. Her honest take on trauma and love followed her to the stage as a stand-up comedian where she has performed on stages such as TEDx, Denver Comedy Works, Broadway Comedy Club, The Moth, Stand Up NY, Dangerfield’s, PDA Space, and The Upright Citizen’s Brigade. She has also opened for Jim Gaffigan and Ari Eljárn and made her headlining debut at The Junkyard Hamilton last year. Her one-woman storytelling shows “I’ll Be OK” and “20-Nothing” have toured at the Edinburgh and Denver Fringe Festivals with rave reviews. Mimi’s TED Talk “Laughter is NOT the best medicine” has reached international audiences and her unique collection of viral TikToks have garnered her millions of views. She has been featured by National Public Radio, The Aneurysm and AVM Foundation, Fox31 Denver, Mogul, HelloGiggles, and The San Francisco Giants. She is currently working on a documentary, her second book, and running her own business as a writing coach.   

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