Mark Rader is a fiction writer, artist, and father of two boys who are really into toilet-themed collectibles right now. His short fiction has been published in Glimmer Train, Epoch, The Southern Review and shortlisted for an O. Henry Award, the Best American Non-Required Reading anthology, and a Pushcart Prize. He has taught creative writing at Northeastern University and the University of Chicago's Graham School; recently finished writing his first novel, The Wanting Life; and is currently Director of Content Marketing at a swell Chicago company called Jellyvision.

Please join Mark and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.

Tracy Harford-Porter was born in Brooklyn, NY and now resides in the Chicago suburbs. She has worked for Essence Communications as a photo editor, the Harlem Children's Zone as the managing editor of Harlem Overheard, StoryCorps as a facilitator coordinator, and Goldman Sachs as a long-term administrative temp/secret ethnographer. Tracy is a 2008 graduate of Clarion West and proud alum of Columbia University School of General Studies, majoring in anthropology. She is currently reworking a NaNoWriMo project into a novel and a screenplay because she is a masochist.

Please join Tracy and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.

Joshua Landsman is the author of The Tale of The Teller of Tales (novel) and Frank Talk About Matters Big and Small (play). He works at a job for a company. He lives in a suburb on the edge of the city (you may have seen him). His sketchbook, Writers I Have Loved, has been featured on The Huffington Post, Print Magazine's blog, and The Paris Review blog.

Please join Joshua and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.

Sara Ross Witt is a former co-host of Tuesday Funk and a graduate of The New School MFA in Creative Writing program. Her writing has appeared in Arch City Chronicle, Parent to Parent, Black Market Lit, and Best of Ohio Short Stories volume 1 and 2. Sara grew up in Westerville, Ohio, the headquarters of the Anti-Saloon League. She summered off Lake Erie in Vermilion and was once lost at Lake Hope State Park during a thunderstorm at night. Her party - a group including her mother, brother, and a psychic - nearly fell into the lake until they were rescued by deer hunters. She often writes about Ohio, magic, and family. She lives Chicago's Budlong Woods neighborhood with her husband and their two sons. And she loves whiskey.

Please join Sara and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.

Spring is here, and the time is right for your favorite eclectic reading series! Join us for the 117th edition of Tuesday Funk, where we'll feature readings by Mark Rader, Sara Ross Witt, Joshua Landsman, Tracy Harford-Porter, and Elizabeth Gomez in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark St.

As always, admission is free, but you must be 21 to attend. Doors open at 7pm sharp (don't dawdle if you want a seat!) and the show will start at 7:30pm. Please RSVP on Facebook -- and don't forget to like our page so you get our announcements right in your stream.

Sponsored by the Chicago Review of Books.

Spring was in the air and on cohost Andrew Huff's mind (among other things) at our May 1 show.

Seventy degrees
is most welcome in April
and late October.

Spring in Chicago,
and cats wait patiently for
windows to open.

Bill Cosby was brought
to justice after decades
for raping women.

Why is R. Kelly
still a working musician
despite all he did?

NRA bans guns
from its own pep rally, but
not from high school halls.

We had our own little spring festival at Tuesday Funk on May 1! Your favorite eclectic reading series started out with a short story by Rachel Z. Arndt, followed by witchy poems from B. Metzger Sampson. Felix Jung took us into the intermission with a short essay and a selection of poems.

After refilling our drinks, cohost Andrew Huff shared some of his topical haiku, then introduced Michi Trota, who shared an essay about racial representation in science fiction. Last but not least, James Finn Garner read an excerpt from one of his clown noir novels.

Did you miss it? We'll post video eventually, but in the meantime, plan on going to the Hideout on Tuesday, June 5, when we'll have readings by Mark Rader, Tracy Harford-Porter, Joshua Landsman and Elizabeth Gomez. See you there!

Once you've basked in the first warm day of the year, come to Tuesday Funk for some great live lit! Featuring Rachel Z. Arndt, James Finn Garner, Felix Jung, B. Metzger Sampson, and Michi Trota! As always, Andrew Huff and Eden Robins will be hosting.

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. No food can be brought up from the restaurant. See you there!

B. Metzger Sampson is a poet, essayist, and frequent collaborator with visual artists. She's the Executive Director of the Poetry Center of Chicago, which organizes roving readings across Chicago, with established and emerging writers, and hires poets as teaching artists for residencies in CPS. She was named one of Newcity's "Lit 50 2017." She previously founded and edited Dear Navigator, a literary magazine for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she also taught. She has also led creative workshops for artists and writers in Cairo, and Sinai, Egypt.

Please join Elizabeth and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, May 1, 2018 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.

Felix Jung received his MFA in Creative Writing from The Ohio State University in 2000. His writing has appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, and Cassette From My Ex - an anthology of personal essays on relationships in the era of the mix tape. His online projects have been featured on BoingBoing, MetaFilter, and Product Hunt. You can find him on Twitter @avoision, or at his website avoision.com - a personal blog he's updated every single day since July, 2002.

Please join Felix and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, May 1, 2018 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.