It was a prematurely cold night in what has turned into a series of cold nights, but the audience for the 133rd edition of Tuesday Funk was warm and welcoming in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf on November 5, and our readers were ready to soak it up. Brooklyn-based
Marco Rafalà got the show started with an excerpt from his new novel,
How Fires End, about a fateful accident in a Sicilian town soon after the end of World War II. Next,
Kat Jercich read an essay about attempting to hide her queerness under hundreds of photos of Daniel Radcliffe on her bedroom walls. Then
Leland Cheuk shared an excerpt from his new novel,
No Good Very Bad Asian before we took a break to refresh our drinks.
After intermission, cohost Andrew Huff read a couple of his patented topical haiku, then Karen Clanton told a story about overcoming racial harassment in a new town as a child. And lastly, Kevin Coval read a selection of poems about Wicker Park from his new collection, Everything Must Go: The Life & Death of an American Neighborhood.
If you missed it, don't feel bad. We'll have video up on our YouTube page soon. And you can catch the next episode of Chicago's favorite eclectic monthly reading series on Tuesday, Dec. 3, when we'll have readings by Ruth Kaufman, Katey Schulz, Anne-Marie Oomen, Norman Doucet and Darshita Jain. Hope to see you there!
