We had a packed room for our June 3 show — proving once again that Chicagoans love their live lit! And we had a really great show for them, too. Dayna Bateman started things off with a moving abecedarian essay about her indigenous Sámi ancestors to pass for white in the racial climate of 1880s America, in relation to her life today. Next, Diana Babineau read a short story thriller set in a dystopian future in which state government has been tightening its control of women. Then James Stewart III shared a passage from his novel Defiant Acts set in the aftermath of the Rodney King trial.

After intermission, Eden Robins read a piece from the forthcoming comedy murder mystery novel she wrote with Mary Winn Heider. Then Mary Anne Mohanraj closed things out with a passage from one of her books, in which a woman grapples with the alternate versions of her life and identity.

Tuesday Funk will be back on July 1 with readings by Martha Bayne, Chris Corlew, Chris Gleason, Ursa Miles, and Victoria Montalbano. It's going to be a lot of fun — hope to see you there!

Mary Anne Mohanraj is author of Bodies in Motion (HarperCollins), The Stars Change (Circlet Press) and ten other titles. Bodies in Motion was a finalist for the Asian American Book Awards, a USA Today Notable Book, and has been translated into six languages. The Stars Change is a science fiction novella, and finalist for the Lambda, Rainbow, and Bisexual Book Awards. Previous titles include Aqua Erotica,Wet, Kathryn in the City, The Classics Professor, The Best of Strange Horizons, Without a Map, The Poet's Journey, and A Taste of Serendib (a Sri Lankan cookbook). Mohanraj founded the Hugo-nominated magazine, Strange Horizons, and was Guest of Honor at WisCon 2010 and Maneki Neko Con. She serves as Executive Director of the Speculative Literature Foundation, has taught at the Clarion SF/F workshop, and is Clinical Assistant Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Please join Mary Anne and our other awesome readers on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 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.

Diana Babineau is a senior editor and writer for Northwestern Magazine at Northwestern University. She studied poetry at Amherst College and went on to become a managing editor for The Common literary journal, Orion magazine and In These Times magazine. She has edited a wide range of work including investigative journalism, fiction, literary nonfiction and poetry. She also has freelanced as a consulting editor for the Kenyon Review and as a copyeditor for children’s books, young adult novels, and nonfiction books focused on Caribbean literature and history. Her poetry has been published in North American Review, The Common, and the anthology Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy. In her free time she enjoys ballroom dancing, board games, and birdwatching.

Please join Diana and our other fantastic readers on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 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.

Dayna Bateman is a recovering tech worker who received the 2025 American Literary Review Nonfiction Prize for her essay: Deracination, or How to Disappear. A Granta Memoir and Tin House Workshop alum, she was awarded a Storyknife Residency on the strength and promise of her memoir-in-progress about growing up on the spinning edge of the record business.

Please join Dayna and our other awesome readers on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 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.

James Stewart III is a Black writer and arts organizer from Chicago. His debut novel, Defiant Acts (Acre Books, 2025), has been named one of Chicago Magazine’s “Summer’s Required Reading” picks and was recently featured in the Chicago Reader. He was also named to Newcity’s 2025 Lit 50 list, recognizing influential voices in Chicago’s literary culture. His writing has appeared in journals including Lampblack, The Forge, and Midwest Review. Additionally, he is a co-founder of the reading series and artist collective Exhibit B. Stewart holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, an MA from North Central College, and a BA from Columbia College Chicago. He lives with his wife and daughter at the end of DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

Please join Jim and our other fantastic readers on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 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.

Eden Robins is the author of Remember You Will Die, which has been longlisted for the 2024 Massachusetts Book Awards, When Franny Stands Up, which was named a best book of 2022 by the Chicago Reader, and the forthcoming Don't Cross Mo Ellery, which she co-wrote with Mary Winn Heider under the top-secret pseudonym Birdie Horne. She was an Illinois Arts Council Fellow in Literature in 2023, and also writes short stories, personal essays, and cultural criticism at places like Slate, Catapult, USA Today, LA Review of Books, and others. She has been to the bottom of the ocean, will never go to space, and recently left Chicago for Western Mass. You should come visit.

Please join Eden and our other great readers on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 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.

As the weather warms up, so does Chicago's favorite eclectic monthly reading series! Join us in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf on June 3 for readings by Diana Babineau, Dayna Bateman, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Eden Robins, and James Stewart III. It'll be a little of everything &emdash; mysterious murders, flash fiction, sci-fi and more!

Admission to Tuesday Funk is always 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, like and follow us so you get our announcements in your news stream. You can also follow us on Bluesky, YouTube and Instagram — and subscribe to our very low-volume (like, once a month) email newsletter, too!

We had a wonderful turnout for Tuesday Funk on May 6. The upstairs lounge at Hopleaf was filled with folks ready for anything, and that's exactly what your favorite eclectic monthly reading series gave them!

J. Rohr got things started with a lightly fictionalized story of a wild wake and remembrance for a friend. Next, Bradley Morgan read an excerpt from his book U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America, and then Kate Prior regaled us with a story of a budding high school relationship that led to a realization of what her larger personal beliefs are.

We took a break to refill our drinks, and Mike Puican shared a portion of his forthcoming memoir, as well as a few poems. And last but not least, Molly Sackler told a tale of friendship involving witches in Ibiza.

Tuesday Funk will be back on June 3 with readings by Diana Babineau, Dayna Bateman, Mary Anne Mohanraj, James Stewart III, and former cohost Eden Robins. It's going to be a lot of fun — hope to see you there!

Molly Sackler is a theatre brat. She grew up in a family that moved often for her father’s work as a playwright, director, and screenwriter. After college, she cut her teeth in NYC book publishing. At the Doubleday Crime Club, Molly learned how to write lurid flap copy and — through author photos — that English mystery writers tend to own cats, unconvincing wigs, and, apparently, no clean cardigans. A winding path then took her through academia, the documentary world, and intentional integration in Fair Housing. A sometime poet who still feels new to Chicago, Molly has twice been a finalist in the Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award. The highlight was getting to meet Ms. Brooks the first year the contest was held. Molly works as a freelance writer and editor. She is writing a book about her childhood.

Please join Molly and our other excellent readers on Tuesday, May 6, 2025 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.

Bradley Morgan, a media arts professional in Chicago, is the author of U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America. He manages partnerships on behalf of CHIRP Radio 107.1 FM and is the director of its music film festival. His forthcoming books are Frank Zappa's America (Louisiana State University Press, June 2025) and U2: Until the End of the World (Gemini Books, October 2025). He enjoys listening to records with his ginger cat Rusty.

Please join Bradley and our other great readers on Tuesday, May 6, 2025 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.