January shows are always fun at Tuesday Funk, because it's always packed with folks who are resolved not to let winter weather stop them from going out. It was standing room only in the upstairs lounge of Hopleaf on Jan. 7, and the crowd was treated to some excellent writing.

Maggie Queeney got us started with a sampling of poems, some from her chapbook settler. Next, Michael Palmer read a glossary of terms from his time in West Texas. Then Darshita Jain shared poems about recent events in the US and in India.

We took a break to refill drinks, and then cohost Andrew Huff read a couple of his topical haiku. Then Cameron McGill recited several poems from his forthcoming chapbook, Meridians. Last but not least, Dimitry Samarov shared excerpts from his recently published memoir Soviet Stamps.

Want to make sure winter doesn't beat you? Join us on Tuesday, Feb. 4 for another edition of Tuesday Funk! We'll feature readings by Kelly Swails, Ananda Lima, Lindsay Porter, Jessi D and Kendra Stevens. Hope to see you then!

Not since 2000 has it been so hard to get accustomed to writing a new year. Join us on January 7, 2020(!!) for the year's first excellent installment of Tuesday Funk! Featuring Maggie Queeney, Cameron McGill, Darshita Jain, Michael Palmer, and Dmitry Samarov! And, of course, your perennial co-hosts, Andrew Huff and Eden Robins.

Our readings take place at Hopleaf Bar, 5148 N. Clark St. in Chicago. We get started promptly at 7:30 pm in the upstairs lounge. Arrive early if you want a seat -- but no earlier than 7:00 pm. Our readings are free, but only those 21 and over will be admitted. And check it out -- You can now order food from our bartender! See you there!

Darshita Jain likes to call herself Quixotic. She is a grad student studying New Arts Journalism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the literary editor of F News Magazine. Most of the time, she oscillates between being the human version of an exclamation point and a question mark. Back home in India, she founded one of the country's first spoken word organizations where she performed and taught poetry and performance for three years. She wants to establish the importance of staying tender and rediscovering wonder.

Please join Darshita and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. Please RSVP on Facebook.

Dmitry Samarov paints and writes in Chicago. He published two books in 2019: Music to My Eyes (Tortoise Books) and Soviet Stamps (Pictures & Blather). He's also the author of two cabbie books: Hack: Stories from a Chicago Cab (2011) and Where to? A Hack Memoir (2014). He sometimes bartends and works in bookstores at other times. You can see more of his work than you want to at www.dmitrysamarov.com.

Please join Dmitry and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. Please RSVP on Facebook.

Michael William Palmer is a nonfiction writer whose work has appeared in Bellingham Review, CutBank, Georgetown Review, Alligator Juniper, West Texas Literary Review, and numerous other publications. His first book, Baptizing the Dead and Other Jobs, is a collection of essays about growing up in Utah and eventually leaving. He lives in Forest Park.

Please join Michael and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. Please RSVP on Facebook.

Cameron McGill is a poet and musician living in Moscow, ID. His poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Sonora Review, and elsewhere. His chapbook, Meridians, is forthcoming in February 2020 from Willow Springs Books. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Idaho and teaches in the English Department at Washington State University, where he serves as poetry editor of Blood Orange Review and co-director of the Visiting Writer Series.

Please join Cameron and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. Please RSVP on Facebook.

Maggie Queeney is a writer, visual artist, and educator. Recipient of the 2019 Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize, The Ruth Stone Scholarship, and a 2019 Individual Artists Program Grant from the City of Chicago, she is the author of settler, winner of the 2017 Baltic Writing Residency Poetry Chapbook Contest. Her recent work is found or forthcoming in The Colorado Review, The American Poetry Review, Denver Quarterly, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Syracuse University, and reads and writes in Chicago.

Please join Maggie and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. Please RSVP on Facebook.

It does not feel real putting that year up there. Here we are, talking about our first show in THE DISTANT FUTURE ...except it's next month. We are in fact living in a time beyond Blade Runner. Who would have guessed that live lit shows would be so popular in this dystopian age?

Join us as we host our 135th episode of Tuesday Funk on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020(!)in the upstairs bar at the Hopleaf in Andersonville. The show will feature readings by Dmitry Samarov, Darshita Jain, Michael Palmer, Maggie Queeney and Cameron McGill. Andrew Huff and Eden Robins cohost.

As always, admission to Tuesday Funk is free, but you must be 21 to attend. Doors open at 7pm sharp (tables tend to fill up fast, so don't be late!) and the show will start at 7:30pm. Please RSVP on Facebook, and while you're there, go ahead like and follow us so you get our announcements in your news stream. Trust the algorithm. Obey the algorithm. See you in 2020!

With memories of Thanksgiving feasts still fresh in everyone's minds, Chicago's favorite eclectic monthly reading series assembled in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf on Dec. 3 for Tuesday Funk's last show of 2019.

We kicked the night off listening to Anne-Marie Ooman share a poem she wrote for Lake Michigan Mermaid: A Tale in Poems (which she cowrote with with Linda Nemec Foster) and a story about Catholic school sex-ed from her memoir Love, Sex and 4-H. Next, Rachel Cromidas read an essay about not getting the traditional post-breakup haircut, and what that's meant to her. Then Ruth Kaufman read the opening scene from her novel My Life as a Star.

After an intermission during which we refilled our drinks and talked about the first half, Katey Schultz shared several excerpts from her novels Flashes of War and the new Still Come Home. Next, cohost Eden Robins offered a quick bit of satirical fiction, and finally Norman Doucet read an essay about the differences between race and culture.

Everyone had a great time, and promised to be back in 2020 for more. Want to join us? Your next opportunity is Tuesday, Jan. 7, when we'll feature readings by Dmitry Samarov, Darshita Jain, Michael Palmer, Maggie Queeney and Cameron McGill. Hope to see you there!

What better way to shake off the Thanksgiving sleepies than with some vigorous live lit! Tonight we're serving Ruth Kaufman, Katey Schulz, Anne-Marie Oomen, Norman Doucet, and Rachel Cromidas! Plus bonus hosts Andrew Huff and Eden Robins.

Our readings take place at Hopleaf Bar, 5148 N. Clark St. in Chicago. We get started promptly at 7:30 pm in the upstairs lounge. Arrive early if you want a seat -- but no earlier than 7:00 pm. Our readings are free, but only those 21 and over will be admitted. And check it out -- You can now order food from our bartender! See you there!