Susan Hayden is a multigenre writer. She is the author of Now You Are a Missing Person, a lyrical memoir in poems, stories and fragments. Published by Moon Tide Press in 2023, the book received the Kirkus Star from Kirkus Reviews. It was also named in the Best of 2023: Fiction and Literature from the Los Angeles Public Library, "the best books of the year, as selected by Los Angeles Public Library staff." Most recently, Hayden's book made the Shortlist for the Memoir Prize for Books, was an Eric Hoffer Award Finalist, a National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist, and a Finalist in the Zibby Awards 2023 for Best Coming of Middle/Old Age book, awarded by Zibby Owens. Additionally, Now You Are a Missing Person was the Winner in the Poetry category and Winner in the Wild Card category from Southern California Book Festival.

She has been published in the anthologies From Venice to Venice (El Martillo Press, 2024); 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 monthly literary series. Originating in 2009 at Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica, CA, the show celebrates the written word and features some of the boldest voices in Los Angeles: 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 Americana duo, The Prickly Pair. She lives in Santa Monica with her husband, music journalist Steve Hochman.