Susan Hayden is a multigenre writer. She is the author of Now You Are a Missing Person, her 2023 lyrical memoir in poems, stories and fragments. Published by Moon Tide Press, the book received a starred review from Kirkus. She has been published in the anthologies Beat Not Beat (Moon Tide Press); Los Angeles In the 1970s: Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine (Rare Bird Books); The Black Body (Seven Stories Press), I Might Be The Person You Are Talking To (Padua Playwrights Press) and elsewhere. She is the creator, curator and producer of Library Girl, a words + music literary series. Originating in 2009 at Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica, CA, the show celebrates the written word and features poets, essayists, novelists, playwrights and musicians. In 2015, she received the Bruria Finkel/Artist in the Community Volunteerism Award from the Santa Monica Arts Foundation, for her “significant contributions to the energetic discourse within Santa Monica’s arts community.” Hayden is also a playwright. Her work has been produced at The MET Theatre, Padua Playwrights Festival, Mark Taper Forum’s Other Voices, Lost Studio, South Coast Repertory's Nexus Project, Ensemble Studio Theatre's WinterFest, The California Studies Council, and Café Plays at the Ruskin. She is the proud mother of singer-songwriter Mason Summit, who performs with Irene Greene in the angsty Americana duo, The Prickly Pair. She lives in Santa Monica with her husband, music journalist Steve Hochman.