Our September show brought together readers new and old. Dr. Ada Cheng shared a contemplative essay about aging and acceptance, followed by Kemi Alabi reading poems from their acclaimed book Against Heaven. Tuesday Funk co-founder Hallie Palladino read a personal essay about how she fell in love with — and began writing for — the movies.

After the break, first-time reader Ryan Varadi shared poems from a collection in progress. Finally, Kate Harding closed out the night with a fresh list of reasons to open a used bookstore (or come visit her at Jarvis Square Books very soon). Thanks as always to our attentive and supportive audience!

Join us in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf on Tuesday, October 1, when we'll have readings by Steve Bellinger, Laura Goldstein, PJ Gray, Faisal Mohyuddin, and Sondra Morin. Hope to see you there!

Hallie Palladino is playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and original co-founder of Tuesday Funk in 2008. She has written plays about everything from fraudulent tech start-ups to a fictionalized account of the Cambridge Analytica data heist. Her most recent play The Cleanup, was a sex comedy about burnt-out parents hooking up after hours at a crunchy DIY preschool co-op. All of these are part of her "deception series" that ask: how do we rebuild after social trust is shattered? Her short Attachment Disorder is published in the Best New Ten-Minute Plays 2021 (Applause Acting Series). Her writings on theater have appeared in American Theatre Magazine, HowlRound, and Rescripted. Currently she's having a blast with her screenwriting partners, Mike Jann and Michele Jordan, writing a raunchy coming of age story with a climax at a Tijuana brothel. Hallie is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild.

Please join Hallie and our other fantastic readers on Tuesday, September 3, 2024 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.

photo credit - Joe Mazza - Brave Lux

Kate Harding is the author of Asking for It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture and co-editor with Samhita Mukhopadhyay of Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Trump’s America. She has both an MFA and a PhD she’s not currently using, but she’s taught creative writing at Northwestern University and StoryStudio Chicago, among other places. After being an editor, book publicist, and author, Kate switched over to the bookselling side in 2021, and she is now the owner of Jarvis Square Books, which will open this fall in Rogers Park.

Please join Kate and our other fantastic readers on Tuesday, September 3, 2024 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.

Kemi Alabi is the author of Against Heaven (Graywolf Press, 2022), selected by Claudia Rankine as winner of the Academy of American Poets First Book Award. The collection was a Kate Tufts Discovery Award finalist, Chicago Review of Books Award winner, and one of New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2022, among other honors. Alabi’s poems appear widely in journals and anthologies, including The Atlantic, The Nation, Poetry, Boston Review, and Best New Poets. Alabi is coeditor of The Echoing Ida Collection (Feminist Press, 2021), an anthology of Black reproductive justice writing, and the 2024-2025 Feminist-in-Residence at Northwestern University. Born in Wisconsin on a Sunday in July, they now live in Chicago.

Please join Kemi and our other fantastic readers on Tuesday, September 3, 2024 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.

Ryan Varadi is a midwestern poet living in Chicago, where he writes on the train on the way to work his retail job. He holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a BA in English from Northwestern University. He served as editorial staff for Ecotone and Chautauqua and as an intern for RHINO Poetry. He currently teaches online workshops with The Porch. He is the recent winner of Frontier Poetry’s 2023 Ekphrastic Prize. His poems appear in Poetry Northwest, River Heron Review, and The Shore, among others. You can find him on Instagram at @ryanvaradi, where he sometimes shares niche playlists and brags too much about being good at bar trivia.

Please join Ryan and our other fantastic readers on Tuesday, September 3, 2024 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.

An educator-turned storyteller, creator, and producer, Dr. Ada Cheng has utilized storytelling to illustrate structural inequities, raise critical awareness, and build intimate communities. Committed to amplifying and uplifting marginalized voices, she has created numerous storytelling platforms for BIPOC and LGBTQIA community members to tell difficult and vulnerable stories. Dr. Cheng has been a speaker for Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau since 2019. She was named 2023-24 Lund-Gill Chair at Dominican University. She is one of the Illinois Humanities Public Humanities Award honorees in 2024. Her interests encompass academia, storytelling/performance, and advocacy. Learn more at renegadeadacheng.com.

Please join Ada and our other fantastic readers on Tuesday, September 3, 2024 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.

See you... in September... at Tuesday Funk! Chicago's favorite eclectic reading series returns to the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf on Tuesday, Sept. 3. Cohost Andrew Huff will be missing due to an out-of-town wedding, but Erin Watson will be there with a toast and intros to all our readers: Kemi Alabi, Ada Cheng, Kate Harding, Hallie Palladino and Ryan Varadi.

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, go ahead like and follow us so you get our announcements in your news stream.

Our August show was lively and fun. If you didn't make it, here's what you missed!

Kelly Swails led us off with an essay about exploring the city through visits to dive bars. Next, Rosamund Lannin read a portion of a short story that will be published soon.

We took a break to refresh our drinks, after which cohost Andrew Huff shared a couple of his topical haikus and introduced Jitesh Jaggi, who read some experimental fiction about oracles in department stores. Then cohost Erin Watson led us all in a toast, and Lauren Emily Whalen read part of an autofiction piece about performing burlesque in Chicago.

Unfortunately Sondra Morin was unable to join us due to COVID, but she's on the mend and will read at our October 1 show instead. You should join us, too — and come to our next show on Tuesday, Sept. 3, when we'll have readings by Kate Harding, Ada Cheng, Hallie Palladino, Ryan Varadi and Kemi Alabi. Hope to see you then!

Jitesh Jaggi ended his career in finance one day when he lost all his data that he forgot to save on an Excel sheet and realized that he just didn’t care. That tipping point led to him becoming a storyteller. He is a four-time The Moth StorySlam winner and his stories were recently featured on NPR where they butchered his name but he swears that was him. Jitesh has read his poems in Mumbai, Paris, and Chicago, including one time at the seedy Logan Square Skate Park — under the highway — in between punk bands setting up equipment. He loves writing bios because he can refer to himself in the third person. Ask Jitesh about his one-man show Suitcase Stories returning in Fall 2024.

Please join Jitesh and our other fantastic readers on Tuesday, August 6, 2024 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.

Rosamund Lannin reads and writes in Chicago. Her work has appeared in places like Strange Horizons, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, Tor.com, and Vice. She's currently querying a novel about live action roleplaying and the nature of fantasy. If you're an agent, she'd love to talk. If you're not, she'd probably love to talk to you anyway.

Please join Rosamund and our other fantastic readers on Tuesday, August 6, 2024 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.