Readings Reading #168

Tuesday Funk #168 - March 3, 2026

Join us in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf for Chicago's favorite eclectic monthly reading series and help us bring March in like a lion! Tuesday Funk returns March 3, with readings by Maria Kostas, Elizabeth Marley, Edward McClelland, Mar Romasco-Moore, and Jenn Sodini! Admission to Tuesday Funk is

Readings Reading #167

Tuesday Funk #167: February 3, 2026

Fight, fight against the dregs of winter and head to the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf for Chicago's favorite eclectic monthly reading series. Join us on Tuesday, Feb. 3, when we'll feature readings by Dawn Angelicca Barcelona, PJ Bauman, Robin Billadeau, Robert Loerzel, and Lori Rader-Day! Admission

Romasco-Moore Mar Reading #168

Meet the Readers: Mar Romasco-Moore

Mar Romasco-Moore is the author of the novels Saint Kayleigh (forthcoming 2027), Deadstream, I Am the Ghost in Your House , Krazyland, and Some Kind of Animal, as well as Ghostographs, an interconnected collection of flash fiction inspired by vintage photographs. Their stories have appeared in Lightspeed, Fireside, DIAGRAM, Hobart, Interfictions,

Debriefings Reading #167

February 2026 Debrief

We love that Chicagoans don't let the bitter cold keep them home during the winter! The house was full for Tuesday Funk on Feb. 3, and our readers felt their warmth. Robin Billadeau led us off with some flash fiction and poetry. Next, Robert Loerzel gave us a

Huff Andrew Haiku by Andrew

Haiku by Andrew: February 3, 2026

At Tuesday Funk, we cohosts also get in on the act a little. Erin does a highly specific toast, and I read topical haiku — haiku ripped from the headlines, from my life and yours. These are the four I read at last night's show. Frozen slush and ice

Participants Reading #167

Meet the Readers: PJ Bauman

Piper June (PJ) Bauman is a trans visual artist, essayist, and avid fan of many soups including a good Butternut Squash, Caldo Verde, Tomato Bisque, or really any sort of Gumbo. A recent Chicago transplant, Piper has spent the last few months sniffing around to find enough money for her

Participants Reading #167

Meet the Readers: Robin Billadeau

Robin Billadeau is a queer poet and cartoonist based in Chicago. She likes knights in shinning armor and mistakes. You can follow her work on Bluesky at MaidandLion. Please join Robin and our other kickass readers on Tuesday, February 3, 2026 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at

Participants Reading #167

Meet the Readers: Dawn Angelicca Barcelona

Dawn Angelicca Barcelona is a Filipina-American poet from New Jersey. She is a candidate in the Litowitz MFA+MA Program at Northwestern University. Her debut chapbook, Roundtrip, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2025. Her work has appeared in BRINK, Reed Magazine, Tampa Review, Atlanta Review, and elsewhere. Along

Participants Reading #167

Meet the Readers: Lori Rader-Day

Lori Rader-Day is the USA Today bestselling author of eight novels including Wreck Your Heart, The Death of Us, Death at Greenway, The Lucky One, and Under a Dark Sky. She has been nominated for crime fiction’s highest award, the Edgar Award, and has won the Mary Higgins Clark

Loerzel Robert Participants

Meet the Readers: Robert Loerzel

Robert Loerzel is a freelance journalist, copy editor, historian, and photographer. He was born in Alaska. He lives in Uptown. His books include Alchemy of Bones: Chicago’s Luetgert Murder Case of 1897 and The Uptown: Chicago’s Endangered Movie Palace. His reporting has included articles for Chicago magazine, the

Debriefings Reading #166

January 2026 Debrief

We love a packed room at Tuesday Funk, and the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf was indeed filled to capacity for our 166th edition on January 6, 2026. A queue formed on the stairs ahead of the 7pm door time! Once everyone was settled in where they could, Dmitry Samarov got

Participants Reading #166

Meet the Readers: Kelsey McGrath

Kelsey McGrath (she/they) is a multi-hyphenate creative and has been in the Chicago theater scene since 2015, most recently dipping her toes in live lit and storytelling. As a performer, she's acted with Northwestern University, Northlight Theatre, Steep Theatre, Red Theater, and Lifeline Theater. As a writer,

Participants Reading #166

Meet the Readers: Dmitry Samarov

Dmitry Samarov was born in Moscow, USSR in 1970. He immigrated to the US with his family in 1978. He got in trouble in 1st grade for doodling on his Lenin Red Star pin and hasn't stopped doodling since. He graduated with a BFA in painting and printmaking

Participants Reading #166

Meet the Readers: Sara Paretsky

Sara Paretsky revolutionized the mystery world in 1982 when she introduced her Chicago detective, V.I. Warshawski, in Indemnity Only. By creating a woman PI with the grit to take on the mean streets, Paretsky challenged a genre in which women historically were vamps or victims. While Paretsky’s fiction

Participants Coviello Peter

Meet the Readers: Peter Coviello

Peter Coviello is the author of six books, including Long Players, a memoir selected as one of ARTFORUM’s Best Books of 2018; Make Yourselves Gods, about the Mormon nineteenth century; and most recently Is There God After Prince?: Dispatches from an Age of Last Things. His writing appears regularly

Carmichael Matt Reading #166

Meet the Readers: Matt Carmichael

Matt Carmichael is a futurist, author, photographer, speaker, dad and softball coach? Matt has been called "an actual photographer" by Dave Barry and an "internet guru" in Rolling Stone. A former Census Bureau director said Matt's work was important for the nation. An Emmy-winning

Readings Reading #166

Tuesday Funk #166: January 6, 2026

Who cares if it's cold out, it's warm in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf! Shake off the chill and join us on Tuesday, Jan. 6 for Chicago's favorite eclectic reading series, featuring readings by Matt Carmichael, Peter Coviello, Kelsey McGrath, Sara Paretsky, and Dmitry

Debriefings Reading #165

December 2025 Debrief

The upstairs lounge at Hopleaf was filled with good cheer on Tuesday, Dec. 2, as Chicago's favorite eclectic reading series they soon would hear. A full house turned out for the 165th edition of Tuesday Funk, and though we were short a reader — Edward Moses fell ill and

Participants Reading #165

Meet the Readers: Daniel Kraus

Daniel Kraus is a New York Times bestselling writer of novels, TV, and film. His latest novel, Angel Down, was a USA Today bestseller and New York Times Notable Book of 2025. His novel Whalefall received a front-cover rave review in the New York Times Book Review, won the Alex

Gucciardi Ben Participants

Meet the Readers: Ben Gucciardi

Ben Gucciardi teaches writing, print and video journalism at Whitney Young where he also coached the school’s state champion Academic Decathlon team from 2019 to 2025. Before teaching, he was a member of the Wisconsin-based indie rock band Sat. Nite Duets, whose work has been featured in GQ, Stereogum,

Participants Reading #165

Meet the Readers: Michal Eskayo

Michal Eskayo, or Mick, is on faculty in the World Languages and ELL Department at Harold Washington College. She has been teaching writing, speech and news literacy to English Language Learners and some native speakers of English for a freaking long time. Getting this job was like winning the lottery,

Sophie Lucido Johnson Participants

Meet the Readers: Sophie Lucido Johnson

Sophie Lucido Johnson is an award-winning cartoonist and writer in Chicago. She is the author of, most recently, KIN: The Future of Family, and three other books. She is a cartoonist for The New Yorker, and has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, and elsewhere. She has

Readings Reading #165

Tuesday Funk #165: December 2, 2025

The holidays are here again, but Chicago's favorite eclectic reading series takes no winter breaks! Join us in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf on Tuesday, Dec. 2 for readings by Michal Eskayo, Sophie Lucido Johnson, Ben Gucciardi, Daniel Kraus, and Edward Moses! Admission to Tuesday Funk is always

Debriefings Reading #164

November 2025 Debrief

November's Tuesday Funk happened on one of the first truly autumnal days of the year, with drizzle and blustery winds whipping the leaves around. But that didn't stop people from packing the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf! Bridget Gordon got things started with some of faer poetry.

Aiken Carmen Reading #164

Meet the Readers: Carmen Aiken

Carmen Aiken is a writer living and working in Chicago, IL, who volunteers in local economy and food ecosystems and enjoys riding her bike. Carmen's novel in verse, hotspur, was published this summer by Spuyten Duvil Press, and they've recently had pieces published in Milwaukee Avenger