Holly M. Wendt is Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Lebanon Valley College and the author of Heading North (Braddock Avenue Books, 2023). Wendt is a recipient of the Robert and Charlotte Baron Fellowship for Creative and Performing Artists from the American Antiquarian Society and fellowships from the Jentel Foundation and Hambidge Center. They have served as a Peter Taylor Fellow in fiction at the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. Their work has appeared in Passages North, Shenandoah, Barrelhouse, Ploughshares blog, and elsewhere. Holly is a former Baseball Prospectus contributor and contributing editor for The Classical. Their sports-based nonfiction has also appeared in Bodies Built for Game: The Prairie Schooner Anthology of Contemporary Sports Writing, The Rumpus, and Sport Literate. Find Holly on Bluesky and Instagram at @hmwendt.

Please join Holly and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, May 7, 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.

April showers bring May readers? That's probably not how it works, but join us anyway on Tuesday, May 7 for the 147th edition of Tuesday Funk! The evening will feature readings by Carmen Aiken, Connor Coyne, Ananda Lima, Gina Twardosz, and Holly M. Wendt. Andrew Huff and Eden Robins cohost.

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.

Hope to see you there!

Lillian Stone is a reporter, humor writer, and the author of Everybody's Favorite, a funny and disgusting essay collection published in 2023. She’s a frequent contributor to outlets including Slate, BBC Worklife, and GQ. On the humor side, she's a headline and features contributor for The Onion and a regular ol’ contributor for outlets like The New Yorker and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. She lives in Ukrainian Village with her poorly-behaved pets and recently joined the proud alliance of Chicago elementary school crossing guards. (Thanks, Eden!) You can find her on Instagram at @originalspinstr or on Substack, where she writes a weekly newsletter called The Big One.

Please join Lillian and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, April 2, 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.

Daniel Kraus is a New York Times bestselling writer of novels, TV, and film. His latest novel, Whalefall, received a front-cover rave review in the New York Times Book Review, won the Alex Award, and is a LA Times Book Prize Finalist. With Guillermo del Toro, he co-authored The Shape of Water, based on the same idea the two created for the Oscar-winning film. Also with del Toro, Kraus co-authored Trollhunters, which was adapted into the Emmy-winning Netflix series. His also cowrote The Living Dead with legendary filmmaker George A. Romero. Kraus’s The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch was named one of Entertainment Weekly‘s Top 10 Books of the Year. Kraus has won the Bram Stoker Award, Scribe Award, two Odyssey Awards, and more.

Please join Daniel and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, April 2, 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.

Jennifer Schaefer is a fiction writer whose work has appeared in: North American Review, Chicago Tribune, Barstow & Grand, Curbside Splendor, The Matador Review, Zouch Magazine, Akashic Books' flash fiction series, and Tortoise Books' anthology. She also received an Honorable Mention from Glimmer Train and a Special Mention from Fabula Press. She is currently seeking publication of two magical realism novels, one set in 1990s London, the other in a cultish Renaissance fair. She currently lives in Skokie with her British husband and their two daughters, two cats, and one very neurotic dog.

Please join Jennifer and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, April 2, 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.

Sarah Kokernot’s writing has appeared in The Best American Short Stories, The New York Times, Michigan Quarterly Review, Crazyhorse, Front Porch, West Branch, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, and other publications. She is currently finishing her first novel. Originally from Kentucky, she lives outside of Chicago with her family. She works as an artist in residence at Northwestern University and as a consultant at StoryStudio, a creative writing center.

Please join Sarah and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, April 2, 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.

Robert Vetter is a writer and performer, most recently performing with Little Miss Anthropes, a drag standup pageant, at The Lincoln Lodge. His work has been published by or is forthcoming in McSweeney’s, The AutoEthnographer, The New Absurdist, The Museum of Americana Literary Review, and more.

Please join Robert and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, April 2, 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.

Spring has sprung, and Chicago's favorite live lit reading series is too! Join us Tuesday, April 2 for the 146th edition of Tuesday Funk. The evening will feature readings by Sarah Kokernot, Daniel Kraus, Jennifer Schaefer, Lillian Stone, and Robert Vetter. Andrew Huff and Eden Robins cohost.

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.

Hope to see you there!

Gina DeLuca is an essayist, satirist and cartoonist who has been performing in Chicago for the last 13 years. She recently graduated with her MFA in nonfiction writing from Washington University in St. Louis, and is an Assistant Editor for the humor column at The Rumpus. Her work has been published in Slate, The Rumpus, Points in Case and other publications. The Chicago Reader named her the featured artist of their 2020 Winter Arts issue. She has an upcoming solo essay show at Steppenwolf Theater on May 14th and 15th. You can read her work and see her cartoons by subscribing to her Substack, REJECTED.

Please join Gina and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, March 5, 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.

James Gordon is an award winning actor, author, and poet, as well as a champion Storyteller. James can be seen on episodes of Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, The G, Background Extras, Quick 2 Judge, and the theatrical productions Ides of March and God Do You Know Me.

Please join James and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, March 5, 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.