Kick fall into high gear with Tuesday Funk - TONIGHT! We'll be featuring Karen Clanton, Kevin Coval, Marco Rafalà, Kat Jercich, and Leland Cheuk! Plus your perennial cohosts, 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!

Karen Clanton is an attorney whose law degree did not stifle the English major lurking within. She has forged a career as a writer in the legal profession, where she has led complex editorial projects in securities law, women's history and diversity. Karen currently works in a large law firm in the area of Diversity & Inclusion. She is a single mom living on the South Side of Chicago chronicling her adventures through stories told on her back porch (or at the kitchen table when it's cold outside) that end up being heard on stages across the city.

Please join Karen and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, November 5, 2019 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.

Kat Jercich is a writer and editor living in Chicago. Her writing has appeared on Rewire.News, Tenderly Magazine, Bitch, Bust, RedEye, xoJane, and the Sacramento News and Review.

Please join Kat and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, November 5, 2019 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.

Kevin Coval is an award-winning poet & author of Everything Must Go: The Life & Death of an American Neighborhood, A People's History of Chicago & over ten other full-length collections, anthologies & chapbooks. He is the founding editor of The BreakBeat Poets imprint on Haymarket Books, & Artistic Director of the MacArthur Award-winning cultural organization, Young Chicago Authors, & founder of Louder Than a Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival, the world's largest youth poetry festival, now in more than 19 cities across North America. He's got a lot of hustles. He's shared the stage with The Migos & Nelson Mandela, has published in Poetry Magazine, The Chicago Tribune & CNN.com & co-hosts the podcast, The Cornerstore, on WGN Radio, cuz he loves to listen to people tell stories. He can be found on the internets @kevincoval.

Please join Kevin and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, November 5, 2019 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.

Leland Cheuk is the author of three books of fiction, including the novels The Misadventures of Sulliver Pong and most recently, No Good Very Bad Asian, forthcoming from C&R Press in November 2019. His work has appeared in Salon, Catapult, Joyland Magazine, and Literary Hub, among other outlets. He has been awarded fellowships at The MacDowell Colony, Hawthornden Castle, Djerassi, and elsewhere. He runs the indie press 7.13 Books and lives in Brooklyn. You can follow him on Twitter @lcheuk and at lelandcheuk.com.

Please join Leland and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, November 5, 2019 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.

Marco Rafalà is a first-generation Sicilian American novelist, musician, and writer for award-winning tabletop role-playing games. He earned his MFA in Fiction from The New School and is a co-curator of the Guerrilla Lit Reading Series in New York City. Born in Middletown, Connecticut, he now lives in Brooklyn, New York. How Fires End is his debut novel.

Please join Marco and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, November 5, 2019 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.

The air is distinctly chillier, and everything is pumpkin spice-flavored. We hate to break it to you, but decorative gourd season is upon us, and the only cure is Chicago's favorite eclectic live lit series, Tuesday Funk! Join us for readings by Kevin Coval, Karen Clanton, Leland Cheuk, Marco Rafala and Kat Jercich.

Come join us in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf in Andersonville! 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 dawdle!) and the show will start at 7:30pm. Please RSVP on Facebook -- and while you're there, maybe like and follow us so you get our announcements right in your stream.

We had a full house in Hopleaf's upstairs lounge for the 132nd edition of Tuesday Funk -- not surprisingly, because we were showcasing The Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook, a new anthology from the wonderful Belt Publishing. The standing-room-only was enthusiastic, and your favorite eclectic monthly reading series enjoyed sharing the love.

We got started, appropriately enough, with a story about Andersonville from Sarah Steimer. Next, F. Amanda Tugade told a quick story about trying to hide her unemployment from the manager of the Filipino corner store in her neighborhood. Then Scott Smith shared an essay about how Beverly became integrated.

Everyone refilled their drinks and bought copies of the Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook during intermission, then Ann C. Logue read an essay about how UIC and University Village are a microcosm of Chicago. Closing out the night, Gint Aras, who was also celebrating the release of his new memoir, Relief by Execution, shared an excerpt that touched on immigration, poverty and racism and his own dawning perspective as a young teen.

You missed a great show, but don't worry, we'll have video up on our YouTube channel soon. And you can come to the next show on Tuesday, Nov. 5, when we'll feature readings by Kevin Coval, Karen Clanton, Leland Cheuk, Marco Rafala and Kat Jercich. Hope to see you there!

Come join us for a very special Tuesday Funk, where we'll be showcasing Belt Publishing's anthology The Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook! Featuring such local luminaries as Annie Logue, Scott Smith, F. Amanda Tugade, Gint Aras, and Sarah Steimer!

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!

Gint Aras has been trapped on planet Earth since 1973. He's the author of the novels The Fugue and Finding the Moon in Sugar, and the forthcoming memoir, Relief by Execution: A Visit to Mauthausen. He lives in Oak Park and teaches at a local community college.

Please join Gint and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, October 1, 2019 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.