The next installment of Tuesday Funk, your favorite eclectic monthly reading series, is June 7! Join us in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf for readings by Sara Krueger, Rana Khoury, Parker Molloy, Norman Doucet and co-host Eden Robins! Andrew Huff is the other co-host, and Sal will be behind the bar to serve you a tasty beverage or two.

Doors open at 7pm -- no earlier, unless you enjoy standing in line on the stairs! -- and the show starts at 7:30 sharp. So get there early to grab a seat, but not overly early. As always, admission is free, but you must be 21 or older. And come early or stay late after for some great Belgian-style food downstairs.

Please RSVP on Facebook, and bring a friend. And become a fan so you never miss an invitation to one of our readings. Oh, and we're now on Instagram! Follow us for realtime photos of the readers.

We may not get an actual spring in Chicago, but it's always spring in the heart of Tuesday Funk. The evening started off strong with former co-host Sara Ross Witt's reading from her YA novel about a family of witches... and one girl who's a little different. Next up, J. Preston Witt read a short story about childhood desires, birds, and mud shoes that was funny and wistful in turn. And Martha Bayne finished off the half with an essay about haunted houses and the housing collapse.

Jason filled our glasses and we drained them dutifully.

Kimberly Dixon-Mays got us back in the mood with poems about Record Store Day and the trials and tribulations of marriage alike. And then Elizabeth Gomez provided our grand finale, with three separate pieces, a poem, an essay about a foray into self-waxing, and a short story told from the perspective of a sandwich-eating Cormac McCarthy.

Bravely, we exited our warm haven, back into the cold Chicago evening. But we'll be back next month on Tuesday, June 7 with Sara Krueger, Rana Khoury, Parker Molloy, Norman Doucet and cohost Eden Robins!

Sure, it's still coat weather, but let's pretend Chicago actually has a spring! Warm up with Elizabeth Gomez, J Preston Witt, Martha Bayne, Kimberly Dixon-Mays, and Sara Ross Witt, plus your faithful co-hosts 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. No food can be brought in from the restaurant. See you there!

J. Preston Witt grew up in the suburbs of Flint, Michigan. He studied creative writing at the University of Michigan (2010) and The Ohio State University (MFA 2014). He served as co-editor of The Journal and as the founding editor of the education project PhoneFiction. In 2014, he won the Able Muse Write Prize for fiction, and he has recently published stories in Ninth Letter, The New Guard, and the Red76 anthology Trainwreck. He works as an adjunct writing instructor and lives in Uptown with his partner, the talented Chicago actress Elise Randall. He is working on a play and a novel.

Please join Preston and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Kimberly Dixon-Mays is a Ragdale and Cave Canem fellow whose publications include Reverie, Anthology of Chicago, Uproot, Consequence and Rhino magazines, the anthologies Trigger Warning and Just Like a Girl: A Manifesta! and her own collections SenseMemory, and More Than a Notion: Reflections on (Black) Marriage. Since 2004 she has been a frequent writer with the Poetry Performance Incubator project of the Guild Literary Complex, and served as the Guild's Executive Director from 2010 to 2012.

Please join Kimberly and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Elizabeth Gomez is a Chicago-based comedian, storyteller, writer, and experienced napper. She is a founder of the Windy City Rollers, Chicago's original all female roller derby league; a founding writer at Drinkers with Writing Problems; an associate producer of Story Club Southside and HilariTea; and a cast member of the Kates. She hopes to one day find a wealthy 96-year-old man to marry and eventually become addicted to prescription drugs and fluffy pink high heels.

Please join Elizabeth and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

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 lives Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood with her husband Andrew Witt - bassist for the hard rock doom pop fish metal band Sea Lords - their sons: a 4 year old and a 4 month old. She once listed Ellen Ripley from the Alien movies as a person she would like to meet.

Please join Sara and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Martha Bayne is a freelance writer and editor, and the editor-in-chief of Belt Magazine, an independent online magazine covering the postindustrial midwest. Her features and essays have appeared in the Chicago Reader, the Chicago Tribune, Crain's, Occupy.com, Belt, the Baffler, and the independent literary site the Rumpus, where she is the Sunday coeditor. She is also a company member with Chicago's Theater Oobleck and the author of Soup & Bread Cookbook: Building Community One Pot at a Time (Agate, 2011), a narrative cookbook based on the long-running community meal project she organizes at Chicago's Hideout bar.

Please join Martha and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

The next installment of Tuesday Funk, your favorite eclectic monthly reading series, is May 3! Join us in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf for readings by Elizabeth Gomez, J Preston Witt, Martha Bayne, Kimberly Dixon-Mays and Sara Ross Witt! No relation between those two Witts, as far as we know. But Andrew Huff and Eden Robins are your witty co-hosts, and Jason or Sal will be ready to serve you a whitbier (or something else) at the bar.

Doors open at 7pm -- no earlier! really! unless you like standing in line on the stairs! -- and the show starts at 7:30 sharp. So get there early to grab a seat, but not overly early. As always, admission is free, but you must be 21 or older. And come early or stay late after for some great Belgian-style food downstairs.

Please RSVP on Facebook, and bring a friend. And don't forget to become a fan so you never miss an invitation to one of our readings.

What a night! Drama, intrigue, and baseball... the trifecta for any good reading.

Robert Loerzel started it off with a fascinating historical essay about the Cubs' one-time short-lived nickname "Microbes." Jessi DiBartolomeo followed with some more historical insight - this time about cemeteries in Chicago and how they interweave with stories of her own history. Then co-host Eden Robins read a micro-essay about that time a tree fell on her car. And Lily Be finished off the half with a jaw-dropping story about parenthood, infidelity, and family secrets.

Jason was quick with pouring drinks and we were even quicker with drinking them.

Co-host Andrew Huff opened the second half with his patented seasonal haiku, and then it was James Finn Garner, who did a dramatic, Vaudevillian-style reading of a "Casey at the Bat" parody. Finally, Joe Meno read a short story that was humorous and heart-tugging in turns, and left everyone wanting more.

And we do it all again next month! Join us on Tuesday, May 3 with Elizabeth Gomez, J Preston Witt, Martha Bayne, Kimberly Dixon-Mays, and former co-host Sara Ross Witt!