Car Crash Collective is a project by writers Brittany Menjivar and Erin Satterthwaite. In 2021, Brittany Menjivar was hit by two semi trucks in a car accident that left her inches from death. The first time she ever hung out with Erin, she told her this story... and minutes later, Erin found herself in a less dramatic accident involving an Uber driver and a Hollywood intersection. Forever bonded by their trauma—and, of course, their love of literature—they founded Car Crash, a late-night poetry and prose reading series based in Los Angeles. Since its inception in July 2023, Car Crash Collective has featured a host of both legendary and up-and-coming writers, including Richard Hell, Jack Skelley, Alex Kazemi, Peter Vack, Anika Levy, Kate Durbin, Ben Fama, Erin Taylor, Lindsay Lerman, Nada Alic, and Lauren Badillo Milici. Brittany and Erin co-hosted the 2024 Storyfort Literary Festival in Boise, Idaho; they’ve also organized Car Crash events in New York and Berlin.

Read about Car Crash Collective in the Los Angeles Review of Books and Office.

Listen to Car Crash Collective in conversation on the Goth Yearbook podcast.

Jack Skelley talks Car Crash Collective with Dennis Cooper in Write or Die Magazine.