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 book readers slammed a shambolic Colorado book event amid reports of harassment, theft, assault and mismanagement. 

The 'Readers Take Denver' event, held April 18 to 21, left attendees branding themselves 'survivors,' while organizers have already canceled next year's conference. 

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

'Readers, on behalf of every author at the event, I’m sorry,' Yarros wrote in a scathing Facebook post. 

Yarros continued by blaming organizers for a variety of issues, including what she perceived as a 'borderline abusive' workload placed on volunteers at the four-day conference. 

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

Yarros claimed organizers shut lights off to herd readers because they 'weren't moving fast enough,' deadnamed an author and refused to change their badge name and failed to organize enough time for readers to get signings despite a pledge for there to be 'no lines' at the event. 

Addressing attendees, Yarros concluded, 'I’m so sorry you couldn’t get your preorders, 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 you did not get to bask in the overwhelming joy that spending three days in the book world should give you.' 

Disappointed readers told the Denver Post that the shambolic schedule was a 'nightmare' and said it failed to live up to promises made by organizer Lisa Renee Jones. 

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

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

However, reports indicate at least one person claimed a volunteer shoved them, which Renee Jones insisted it was handled professionally. 

'In the case that someone has claimed a volunteer put hands on someone, I got security involved IMMEDIATELY,' 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 that she heard about incidents of 'harassment, assault' and 'theft.'  

Allegations of unprofessional behavior at the event also surfaced on TikTok, as one woman claimed that she faced aggressive staff when suffering a medical emergency.

'I was having a hypoglycemic moment and was screamed at by staff to 'get the f*** up off the floor,' TikTok user Well Read Nurse said. 

She continued: 'There were so many horrific experiences between readers, vendors, authors, PAs, volunteers alike.

'This was not just a breakdown in communication, it is a systemic issue with this program.' 

Another author at the event, Kate Hall, detailed her experience in a 30-minute YouTube video, which she titled: 'I (Barely) Survived Readers Take Denver 2024.' 

'I was really hoping this would get better but they kept getting worse and worse,' she said, sporting a black eye in her video. 

'All weekend it was so chaotic... it was an absolute f****** horror show we all had to go through.'

Hall said that organizers failed to let authors set up their book signing tables on time, and were left exhausted by long lines. 

Renee Jones marketed the event as ideal for book lovers hoping to meet their favorite authors as she pledged there would be no lines, and attendees were supposed to be using a timed ticketing system. 

But Kelli Meyer - a self-described 'RTD survivor' - said the system didn't work, and '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 lines wrapped around the hotel that caused confusion about what author was being waited for. 

This also reportedly led some readers to wait hours in the wrong lines, with volunteers giving out incorrect information.  

Author Rhian Cahill added in a blog post that it was an 'unorganized disaster.' 

'I witnessed the utter chaos of the event, the lack of communication between the organizer and her volunteers, between the volunteers themselves, between the volunteers and attendees. It was insane how little anyone seemed to know about what was going on,' he wrote.