Most Recent: July 1, 2020
Susan Hayden is a poet, playwright, novelist & essayist. She writes about being lost and found, identity and belonging, and love, grief and healing. Her novel, Cat Stevens Saved My Life, was a Top 100 Finalist in the Inaugural Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award with Penguin Press. Recent writing appeared in TribeLA and in Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine: Los Angeles in the 1970s (Rare Bird Books) & I Might Be The Person You Are Talking To: Short Plays From The Los Angeles Underground (Padua Playwrights Press). Hayden is Creator/Producer of the monthly literary series, Library Girl, now in its 11th year at Ruskin Group Theatre. In 2015, she was presented with the Bruria Finkel/Artist In The Community Award by the Santa Monica Arts Commission for her “significant contributions to the energetic discourse within Santa Monica’s arts community.” Her proudest achievement has been raising her son, singer-songwriter Mason Summit. She lives with her husband, writer Steve Hochman, in Sunset Park, Santa Monica.