About Rylan

Rylan Hynes (they/them) is the Communications & Editorial Director at The Telling Room in Portland, ME. Rylan studied creative writing, theatre, and visual art at College of the Atlantic.

A writer and consummate bookworm, Rylan has worked with independent bookstores and publishing houses across the country, including Chicago’s Women & Children First and Alice James Books. In 2020 Rylan was awarded a Martin Dibner Fellowship by the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance (MWPA) and the Maine Community Foundation to attend the Harvest Writers Retreat for fiction. In 2022, Rylan received a Lit Fest Fellowship from MWPA and helped facilitate the inaugural Maine Lit Fest. Rylan and excerpts from their novel Grafting were recently a finalist for the 2024 Maine Chapbook Series, Tin House’s 2024 Trans Writers Residency, and longlisted for The Masters Review's 2023 Novel Excerpt Contest. Rylan was a writer-in-residence at Monson Arts in 2024, developing their novel Grafting, and they are an alum of the 2025 Tin House Winter Online Workshop.

Currently Rylan serves on the Community Advisory Board for the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. When they aren't busy writing, Rylan enjoys spending time with their spouse, making art, and gardening.