Want to hear eerie tales from local storytellers about our city and state?
Come then, sweet child, and join Denverite for our annual “DenverFright: Tales of the Strange and Unusual.” Headlining the event is Kali Fajardo-Anstine, the novelist and short story writer who has gained national acclaim with her stories of the West.
You'll also hear from Denverite staff and other local voices with extraordinary stories of strange happenings, surreal history and Halloween vibes — some true, some true-ish and some spun from the darkest Denver-related corners of our altitude-wracked minds.
The event is at the Bug Theater from 6:30-8 p.m. on Oct. 22. Tickets are on sale now for $10, plus a $1.68 fee. Seating is limited, and we packed the house last year.
Proceeds from the tickets will help us book the venue, pay the performers and support the journalistic mission of Denverite and our parent company, Colorado Public Radio.
More storytellers will be announced soon. And you could be one of them: Share your pitch with us, whether it's a chilling historical chronicle, your take on a Colorado myth, a personal parable or simply a good yarn with a mile-high setting.
More on Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Also, more about our headliner: Fajardo-Anstine is a novelist and writer of short stories. She won the American Book Award in 2020 for Sabrina & Corina: Stories, about Chicanas living in Denver and the American West. Her 2022 novel, Woman of Light, traces four generations of women — including a sharpshooter, a clairvoyant, and a mirror maker — across nearly a century.
Basically, she's the perfect person to tell a scary-season story rooted deeply in our city.
"I think about how the city’s changed so much but underneath those layers of change, my family has always been here,” she told Colorado Matters back in 2019. “This is our heartbeat. This is where we’re from.”
Earlier this year, she told Ryan Warner that she was working on a "dystopian" project set in Denver. We are excited that she's bringing her masterful storytelling craft to this event.
