US book fair compared to Fyre Festival after chaotic scenes

Rebecca Yarros, best selling author of Fourth Wing, says the Readers take Denver convention was a mess. Photo / Screenshot

A four-day event that was supposed to be a book lover’s dream has been dubbed the “Fyre Festival of Books” after it descended into chaos and left one person with a black eye.

Led by Rebecca Yarros, a best-selling author, the Readers Take Denver festival at the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center was billed as the ultimate event for bibliophiles, where fans could mingle with their favourite authors.

However, as the day unfolded, the event fell apart, leading one disillusioned visitor to compare it to Fyre, the fraudulent luxury music festival held on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma in 2017.

Attendees paid US$300 to US$375 (NZ$499 to NZ$623) for a ticket to an event where they were promised they could get books signed by best-selling authors who turned up in force to promote their writing.

Many also paid hundreds of dollars for travel to the event.

A timed ticketing system was supposed to ensure the event ran like clockwork, with readers having plenty of time to go from one booth to another to meet authors.

Instead, they spent hours queuing to have time with the writers, food ran out and pre-ordered books never arrived.

“All we did was stand in line. It was total BS,” Kelli Meyer, a self-described “RTD survivor”, told the Denver Post. “It was worse than Disney, and there wasn’t even a ride at the end.”

Security staff who were supposed to marshal the crowd failed to do so. One woman took to TikTok to describe how she sustained a black eye after being knocked over in a melee.

Another complained of being verbally abused by staff after she suffered a medical emergency. She claimed: “I was having a hypoglycaemic moment and was screamed at by staff to: ‘Get the f*** up off the floor!’”

She added: “There were so many horrific experiences between readers, vendors, authors, PAs, and volunteers alike. This was not just a breakdown in communication, it is a systemic issue with this programme.”

Sarah Slusarczyk, a 32-year-old who travelled from Michigan described the event as a nightmare. “I’ve been to many conferences and this, by far, was the worst one I’ve ever been to.”

Best-selling author angered

It was not only readers who were unhappy with the event. Rebecca Yarros, author of best-sellers Fourth Wing and Iron Flame, vented her anger in a 2436-word Facebook post.

She wrote: “Readers, on behalf of every author at the event. I’m sorry. It hasn’t been said to you enough, so let me say it again: I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you couldn’t get your pre-orders, 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 it was disorganised, sorry you felt frazzled, sorry you felt overwhelmed, sorry you did not get to bask in the overwhelming joy that spending three days in the book world should give you.”

Renee Jones, an event organiser who is an author herself, admitted the conference had suffered what she described as “bumpy bumps”.

She conceded there had been “concerns” about lack of security and unprofessional behaviour by volunteers.