Mark Borowsky writes essays and creative non-fiction for "fun," and is a content editor professionally, which has so far enabled him to stay out of debtor's prison. His work has appeared in The Cincinnati Review, Exquisite Corpse, and other publications that end with "dot com." Mark periodically tweets on nothing in particular (he promises to post his first new post in two years before a new Supreme Court Justice is confirmed), and he is currently working on a memoir chronicling his addiction to watching sports.

Please join Mark and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, March 1, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

The product of nine years in San Francisco and eight years in St. Paul, Rosamund Lannin is pleasantly surprised to have lived in Chicago for over a decade. During that time, she has been an editor of Gapers Block, performed stories around the city, and consumed many carne asada burritos. These days she co-hosts lady live lit show Miss Spoken, edits Story Club Magazine, and tries to write essays that make you feel things, or at the very least laugh.

Please join Rosamund and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, March 1, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

It's madness! Tuesday Funk is back in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark St., on Tuesday, March 1 with more great writing that pairs well with great beer. Join us as we welcome guests Kelly Swails, Felix Jung, Mark Borowsky, Matt Fogarty and Rosamund Lannin. Eden Robins and Andrew Huff co-host.

Doors open at 7:00 pm -- no earlier, we mean it. No sneaking in and saving a table. But do get there as close to 7 as you can, because the room fills up quickly (which is why you can't come in before 7). The show starts at 7:30 pm. Admission is free, but you must be 21 or older.

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.

Co-host Andrew Huff read both an essay and topical haiku at the Feb. 2nd edition of Tuesday Funk.

After Iowa,
Trump may blow quieter in
New Hampshire tonight.

'Twas five years ago
that Lake Shore Drive became a
frozen parking lot.

Life post-Gapers Block.
The anxiety has gone.
Now, what to do next?

David Bowie, you.
Generations of artists
owe you a great debt.

What a night! What a show! It was another standing room-only night at the ol' Hopleaf! Joshua Landsman set us in motion with his very first public reading - a fable of love and poor judgment from his book of fables, accompanied on the guitar by his son. Then Jasmine Davila talked to us about the pros of turning 40 and getting to do whatever you want. And Tom Underberg wrapped up the first half with a haunting and chilling story about a girl haunted by a murder in the dead of winter.

During intermission, Jason helped us quench our thirsts.

Co-host Eden Robins read a microessay about her various forays into therapy, and then co-host Andrew Huff read an essay about attention spans and haiku... followed by a few of his signature haiku! And finally, Alex Shakar finished us off strong with a funny and heartfelt story about the relationship between a woman and her dead lover.

We laughed, we learned, we cheered the fact that we did not have to endure a blizzard this year. And we'll be back next month on Tuesday, March 1 with Kelly Swails, Felix Jung, Mark Borowski, Matt Fogarty, and Rosamund Lannin!

There's a lot going on this week - Iowa, groundhogs - so don't forget about your old friend Tuesday Funk! We've got a great show tonight, featuring Joshua Landsman, Jasmine Davila, Tom Underberg, Alex Shakar, and everyone's favorite Tuesday Funk co-host Andrew Huff!

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!

Andrew Huff is the former editor and publisher of Gapers Block, an award-winning Chicago-centric news and events webzine he co-founded in 2003. A serial early adopter, Huff created his first webpage in 1996; launched a blog in 2001; and joined both Flickr and Twitter in their infancy.

In addition to Gapers Block, he has also been a professional blogger for corporate clients, a professor of online journalism, a copywriter for academic websites, and a PR professional for everything from indie rock bands to the Northern Trust. He hosts 20x2 Chicago, a show in which 20 interesting people have two minutes each to answer one question, and he is, of course, the cohost of Tuesday Funk. Find out what else he's up to at me3dia.com.

Please join Andrew and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, February 2, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Tom Underberg writes speculative fiction and raises children. He was born in Michigan, raised in Wisconsin, and lives in Illinois, which might explain why Midwestern oddities feature so often in his work. Tom's fiction has appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Weird Tales, and those white papers he wrote during the dot-com boom. You can find him failing to build a personal brand on twitter.

Please join Tom and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, February 2, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

In Alex Shakar's latest novel, Luminarium, a man enters a strange scientific study about inducing spiritual experiences, falls hard for his experimenter, and starts getting email, somehow, from his comatose brother. Luminarium was the winner of the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Fiction, named an Editor's Choice by the New York Times, a Notable Book by the Washington Post, and a best book of the year by Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and other periodicals. His first novel, The Savage Girl, was selected as a New York Times Notable Book and has been widely translated. His short story collection, City in Love, was the winner of the FC2 National Fiction Competition.

Please join Alex and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, February 2, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Joshua Landsman's novel The Tale of the Teller of Tales -- 20 years in the making (that's 3 years more than Joyce spent on Finnegan's Wake, 7 years more than Joseph Heller worked on Something Happened, and about as long as it took William Gaddis to write JR) -- was published last year by the Pgoat Press. He is also the author of Frank Talk About Matters Big and Small, the play that settles once and for all the question of whether size matters. 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 all our amazing readers on Tuesday, February 2, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.