Colorado book event attendees say ‘they barely survived’ shambolic conference, with reports of ‘harassment, theft and assault’ – as hit author Rebecca Yarros joins backlash against ‘Fyre festival of books’

Thousands of avid readers have branded a seedy event in Colorado as “the Fyre Book Festival” after reports of harassment, theft, abuse and mismanagement.

At the ‘Readers Take Denver’ event, held from April 18 to 21, attendees referred to themselves as ‘survivors’ even though organizers had already canceled next year’s conference.

Bestselling author Rebecca Yarros led criticism of the expo, raising complaints about a lack of security, aggressive staff and pre-ordered books that were not delivered on time.

“Readers, on behalf of all the authors at the event: I am sorry,” Yarros wrote in a scathing Facebook post.

Yarros continued by blaming organizers for a variety of issues, including what she deemed a “transgressive” abusive workload placed on volunteers during the four-day conference.

“When it comes to the events of this weekend, many have been mistreated,” she wrote.

Yarros claimed that organizers turned out the lights for the flock readers because they “weren’t moving fast enough,” called an author dead, refused to change their badge name and failed to organize enough time for readers to get signings, despite a promise that there will be ‘no lines’ at the event.

Addressing the audience, Yarros concluded, “I’m so sorry that you weren’t able to get your pre-orders and that you weren’t able to 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 during the night events, I’m sorry that some volunteers raised their voices.

“I’m sorry you didn’t get to experience the overwhelming joy that a three-day stay in the book world should give you.”

Disappointed readers told us DenverPost that the chaotic program was a ‘nightmare’ and that it did not live up to the promises of organizer Lisa Renee Jones.

“I’ve been to a lot of conferences and this was by far the worst I’ve ever been to,” said Sarah Slusarczyk, a 32-year-old who traveled from Michigan for the event.

Readers paid up to $375 to attend the event at the Gaylord Rockies Resort, and Renee Jones claimed in an email to attendees after the event that she was even moved to tears by praise for her efforts.

However, reports indicate that at least one person claimed a volunteer pushed them, with Renee Jones insisting this was handled professionally.

“In the event that anyone claims a volunteer has taken control of someone, I IMMEDIATELY called in security,” she 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 post by author Abigail Owen, who said she heard about incidents of “harassment, assault” and “theft.”

Allegations of unprofessional behavior at the event also surfaced on TikTok, as a woman claimed she faced aggressive staff while experiencing a medical emergency.

“I had a hypoglycemic moment and was yelled at by the staff to ‘get the f*** off the floor,'” said TikTok user Well Read Nurse.

She continued, “There were so many horrific experiences between readers, vendors, authors, PAs, and volunteers.

“This wasn’t just a breakdown in communications, it’s a systemic problem with this program.”

Another author at the event, Kate Hall, described her experiences in a 30-minute YouTube video titled, “I (Barely) Survived Readers Take Denver 2024.”

“I was really hoping this would get better, but it just kept getting worse and worse,” she said with a black eye in her video.

‘It was so chaotic the whole weekend… it was an absolute horror show that we all had to go through.’

Hall said organizers failed to get authors to set up their signing tables on time and were exhausted by long lines.

Renee Jones marketed the event as ideal for book lovers hoping to meet their favorite authors, as she promised there would be no lines and attendees would have to use a timed ticket system.

But Kelli Meyer – a self-described “RTD survivor” – said the system wasn’t working and that “all we did was stand in line. It was total BS.”

“It was worse than Disney, and there wasn’t even a ride at the end,” she added, noting that there were lines around the hotel that caused confusion about which author was being waited on.

This also reportedly led to some readers waiting in the wrong queue for hours, with volunteers providing incorrect information.

Author Rhian Cahill added in a blog post that it was a “disorganized disaster.”

‘I witnessed the total chaos of the event, the lack of communication between the organizer and its volunteers, between the volunteers themselves, between the volunteers and the attendees. It was crazy how little anyone seemed to know what was going on,” he wrote.