It was a packed house for this week's edition of Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf. If you weren't able to be there, here's what our wonderful and fortunate audience saw.

We kicked things off with Virginia Konchan, who navigated a tricky tale of religious faith and domestic violence. Norman Doucet then took us from his upbringing as the whitest black kid in South Carolina and into a crisis of racial identity in the Marine Corps. We followed that up with a Poem by Bill that attempted to do penance for last month's poem. And Lania Knight brought us a powerful and lyrical tale of life and pain and birth.

After a break for beer and a handful of season-appropriate Haiku by Andrew, co-host William Shunn at long last shared with us the reason he's not permitted to enter Canada. And finally, MacArthur Genius and Guggenheim Fellow Aleksandar Hemon read us an excerpt from his current work-in-progress which had our audience practically peeing themselves. (Er, that's an inside joke.)

All in all, it was an delightful night, but if you couldn't be there, don't despair. We'll bring you plenty of video excerpts in the weeks to come, and then we'll be back on Tuesday, October 1st, 2013, for an evening of Glitter & Mayhem with James Kennedy, Noël Jones, Holly McDowell, Maurice Broaddus & Kyle S. Johnson, and William Shunn & Laura Chavoen. If you don't show up, then Tinker Bell will die!

Don't forget—tonight is Tuesday Funk's 61st episode, featuring Aleksandar Hemon, Virginia Konchan, Lania Knight, Norman Doucet, and William Shunn. Don't miss it!

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!

At our August 6th edition of Tuesday Funk, Maggie Jenkins told us what she did for her summer vacation, and it went a little bit like this...

And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with William Shunn, Virginia Konchan, Norman Doucet, Lania Knight, and MacArthur Fellow Aleksandar Hemon. Hey, that's tomorrow night! You won't want to miss it.

Aleksandar Hemon is the author of The Lazarus Project, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award, as well as The Question of Bruno, Nowhere Man, Love and Obstacles and The Book of My Lives.

He has worked as a waiter, canvasser, bookseller, bike messenger, as well as a supervisor at a literacy center, a writer for Radio-Sarajevo Youth Program and a teacher of English as a second language. His work has been featured in The New Yorker, Esquire, Granta, The New York Times, Playboy, McSweeney's, TriQuarterly, The Baffler, The Wall Street Journal, Tin House, Ploughshares and The Paris Review, among others. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation, the Jan Michalski Prize for Literature, the PEN/ W.G. Sebald Award, and, most recently, a 2012 USA Fellowship. He lives in Chicago with his wife and daughters.

Please join Sasha and all our accomplished readers on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Norman Doucet hails from the den of the southern rebellion, Charleston, South Carolina. Influenced by the duality that exists there, he made some interesting decisions, starting with attending the college—founded after a slave revolt—which also has the dubious distinction of producing the two cadets who fired the first shots of the Civil War.

An English major as an undergrad, Norm decided to join the Marine Corps. He spent almost a decade there, earning his MA in English literature in the process. He loves telling stories, especially stories about those seminal moments that explain the duality that exists in most people.

Please join Norm and all our accomplished readers on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

At our August 6th edition of Tuesday Funk, Brad Beaulieu read us an excerpt from a tale of court intrigue set in Imperial Japan, and it went just a little like this...

And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with William Shunn, Virginia Konchan, Norman Doucet, Lania Knight, and MacArthur Fellow Aleksandar Hemon. You won't want to miss it!

Tuesday Funk is a big supporter of the Chicago Writers Conference, and we'd like to encourage you—nay, urge you—to support this worthwhile endeavor at its annual benefit party!

The benefit takes place this coming Thursday, August 29th, at 6:30 pm, and will help support CWC's programming and outreach efforts. The $40 ticket includes food and drinks from Trader Joe's and Revolution Brewing. Along with mixing and mingling, guests will enjoy readings by Andrew Huff (Tuesday Funk co-host, editor and publisher of Gapers Block), James Finn Garner (The Politically Correct Trilogy, Apocalypse Wow!), and Hannah Pittard (The Fates Will Find Their Way). There will also be a silent auction featuring:

• An exclusive two-book set from science fiction author William Shunn
• A $50 Revolution Brewing gift card
• Your name in The Onion
• A one-night stay at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel (includes breakfast)
• A Field Notes kit

Tickets are now available. Space is limited; if you would like to attend, please send an email to contact@chicagowritersconference.org.

Date: Thursday, August 29, 2013
Time: 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Location: Lakeview neighborhood
Admission: $40 - includes drinks, appetizers and dessert, silent auction and readings

Contact CWC for your ticket now!

William Shunn began his professional software development career at WordPerfect in 1991, where he wrote 80x86 assembly language code and helped kill the DOS version of the venerable word processor. Ironically, he still uses WordPerfect for most of his prose writing, which includes more than thirty works of short fiction.

His stories have appeared everywhere from Asimov's to Salon, and have been shortlisted for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award.

His podcast memoir "The Accidental Terrorist" details his experiences as a young Mormon missionary running afoul of the law in Canada. "This just may be my favorite true-life amazing-but-true tale," wrote Cory Doctorow of the podcast in Boing Boing. Bill first came to the attention of Tuesday Funk audiences in April 2009, when he presented an early chapter from the work. More appearances and more chapters followed over the subsequent months, until in October 2010 he was invited to join Tuesday Funk as co-producer and co-host.

Bill has appeared around town at such popular live-lit series as Essay Fiesta, The First Time, and Write Club. A past national judge for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, he now serves as a board member for the Chicago Writers Conference. He has lived in New York City since June, which is why he'll reluctantly be stepping down as a Tuesday Funk co-host at the end of 2013.

Please join Bill next week when he compresses the entirety of "The Accidental Terrorist" into eight short minutes. You can hear him and all our accomplished readers on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

At our August 6th edition of Tuesday Funk, Jac Jemc read us her short story of juvenile delinquency, "Filch and Rot," and it sounded a lot like this...

And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with William Shunn, Virginia Konchan, Norman Doucet, Lania Knight, and MacArthur Fellow Aleksandar Hemon. You won't want to miss it!

Lania Knight's first book, Three Cubic Feet, is a 2012 Lambda Literary Award Finalist in Debut Fiction. Her work has been published or will appear soon in Fourth Genre, New Stories from the Midwest, The Missouri Review, Literary Mama, PANK, Midwestern Gothic, Jabberwock Review, and elsewhere. She lives down-state and teaches at Eastern Illinois University. Read more about her and her recent travels to China at www.laniaknight.com.

Please join Lania and all our accomplished readers on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.