Mary Lorenz writes stories for your enjoyment and her desperate need for attention. By day, she works in public relations as a corporate communications manager, which means...her guess is as good as yours. Mary has performed at Story Club, Essay Fiesta, Write Club and Guts 'n' Glory, among others. You can find her late this month competing in Snubfest at Zanies and as a featured performer at That's All She Wrote. If you like her story, it would be your honor to buy her a drink after the show.

Please join Mary and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, June 2, 2015, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Emily Nordling likes history, revolution, and magic (in pretty much any combination). She writes speculative fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, and is a blogger for Tor.com. She received her MA in the Humanities at the University of Chicago, where she recently returned as both librarian and collector of profound and useless information. Her poetry has appeared in Oxford Magazine and Colloquium Magazine, and also received the 2013 Carnegie Center LGBT Writing Award for a collection that included meditations on family, Veggie Tales, and, of course, Colin Firth.

Please join Emily and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, June 2, 2015, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

K.B. Jensen is an author and journalist. Painting With Fire, an artistic murder mystery, was her debut novel last year and has been a bestseller on Amazon. She is currently finishing a second book, tentatively titled A Storm of Stories, which is about two people stranded in a car on a deserted country road in the middle of a whiteout. They tell stories to pass the time and as a way to stay alive. The themes are love, craziness and impossibility. Jensen grew up in Minneapolis and currently lives in Hyde Park with her husband, daughter and rescued border collie/lab mix. In her spare time, she enjoys teaching downhill skiing and traveling the world.

Please join K.B. and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, June 2, 2015, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Hannah Gamble is the 2015 winner of the Neil Postman award for metaphor from Rattle magazine. She will be giving talks this summer at the Chicago Art Institute and the 2015 Printer's Ball, and will have new poems out in Pleiades in a couple months. Follow her on twitter @hannah_gamble and on Instagram @wrath_hats.

Please join Hannah and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, June 2, 2015, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Tuesday Funk gives a warm June welcome to guests Emily Nordling, Hannah Gamble, Christa Desir, Mary Lorenz and Kirsten Jensen for your favorite eclectic monthly reading series. Join us Tuesday, June 2 in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark St.

Doors open at 7:00 pm sharp -- no earlier, alas, but get there as close to 7 as possible to grab a table, as the room fills up quickly -- and the show begins promptly at 7:30. Andrew Huff and Eden Robins co-host. Admission is free, but you must be 21 or older.

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

At the May 5 edition of Tuesday Funk, co-host Andrew Huff read six topical haiku.

It snows in April.
You have lived here long enough,
you should know by now.

Still, it would be nice
if flowers and fruit tree buds
were safe from freezing.

Frost advisories
make for depressing haiku
-- cherry blossoms weep.

Get yourself a
Five Rabbit Five Lizard for
Cinco de Mayo.

Cinco de Mayo
is also the Fifth of May.
Habla Espagnol.

Leonard Nimoy died.
So may the Fourth be with you
beyond Thunderdome.

We may not have had margaritas, but we had great writers, and isn't that really what Cinco de Mayo is all about? Maggie Kast started off the night with an essay about making fudge and an excerpt from her newest novel. Jenny Drai followed it up with passages from her humorous novella about relationships and death. Co-host Andrew Huff read a few seasonally-themed haiku, and then Jack Silverstein wrapped up the half with a love/hate letter about living in Chicago.

Cameron plied us all with cervezas, and then we were refreshed for the second half.

Melissa Franic read part of her memoir about family, memory, and Croatia, and then Wesley Chu finished strong with a scene from his new novel, the sequel to Time Salvagers.

Did you miss it? Don't worry! We'll be back at it next month on June 2nd - same time, same place - with readers Emily Nordling, Hannah Gamble, Christa Desir, Mary Lorenz, and Kirsten Jensen!

Come celebrate Cinco de Mayo the traditional way - with some awesome writers! Join Wesley Chu, Jenny Drai, Melissa Franic, Maggie Kast, and Jack Silverstein PLUS your faithful co-hosts Andrew Huff and Eden Robins, for some sweet cerveza and literatura action!

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!

Jenny Drai is the author of Letters to Quince (winner of the Deerbird Novella Prize from Artistically Declined Press), and two poetry chapbooks: The New Sorrow Is Less Than the Old Sorrow (Black Lawrence Press) and :Body Wolf: (Horse Less Press). In addition, three full-length collections of poetry are forthcoming: [ the door ] (Trembling Pillow Press) and Wine Dark and The History Worker (both from Black Lawrence Press). Her poetry has been recently published in or is forthcoming in American Letters and Commentary, Denver Quarterly, Dusie, Handsome, New American Writing, and the Volta. She grew up in Brookfield, where the zoo is, but currently lives in Bonn, Germany. She has worked every odd job imaginable.

Please join Jenny and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, May 5, 2015, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Jack M Silverstein is a staff writer for Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. He enjoys meeting new people, so start a conversation with him @readjack.

Please join Jack and all our great readers on Tuesday, May 5, 2015, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.