Sara Ross Witt

Personnel Reading #55

Not goodbye

As announced at February's Tuesday Funk, I, Sara Ross Witt, will be hosting this exciting reading series for my last time on Tuesday, March 5th. I cannot express how fun it has been to see this reading grow into what it is, and how fun it has been

Participants Reading #55

Meet Our Readers: Dana Norris

Dana Norris is the founder and host of Story Club.  She once went on a lot of internet dates and she writes about those mistakes for the websites In Our Words and Role Reboot.  She blogs at her website dananorris.net.  She has been published in The Rumpus, McSweeney'

Participants Reading #55

Meet Our Readers: Zoe Zolbrod

Zoe Zolbrod's first novel, Currency received a 2010 Nobbie Award and was a Friends of American Writers prize finalist. Short stories and nonfiction have appeared in The Chicago Reader, Knee-Jerk Offline, Fish Stories Collectives, and Maxine, a zine she co-founded in the 1990s. She's a contributor

Participants Reading #55

Meet Our Readers: Lania Knight

Lania Knight lives down-state where she teaches creative writing at a small-ish directional school. Her stories and essays have appeared (or are about to!) in New Stories from the Midwest, Midwestern Gothic, Jabberwock Review, and PANK. Her first book, a novella about a gay teenager in Missouri, was published in

Participants Reading #55

Meet Our Readers: Mairead Case

Mairead Case (@maireadcase) is a writer, teacher, and graduate student with recent work in Best American Comics 2011, The Unified Field, and at Bright Stupid Confetti. Currently she is Youth Services Assistant at the Poetry Foundation Library and edits projects for featherproof books, Yeti Publishing, and the Public Media Institute,

Participants Reading #54

Meet Our Readers: John Everson

John Everson is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Covenant, as well as the novels Sacrifice, The 13th,  Siren and The Pumpkin Man, all released in paperback from Dorchester/Leisure Books and now available in e-book via 47North. His sixth novel, an erotic horror descent into dark desire centered around

Participants Reading #54

Meet Our Readers: Gina Frangello

Gina Frangello is the author of 3 books of fiction: A Life in Men (forthcoming from Algonquin in 2014), Slut Lullabies (Emergency Press 2010) and My Sister's Continent (Chiasmus 2006).  The longtime editor of Other Voices magazine, she co-founded its book imprint, Other Voices Books, in 2004 and

Participants Reading #54

Meet Our Readers: Mary Pat Bohan

Mary Pat Bohan has been performing stand-up and story telling with The Kates at the Book Cellar for a couple years and has also performed with Beast Women. You may have gotten a taste of MP's material at Essay Fiesta, Guts & Glory, or Story Club.  MP strives

Participants Reading #54

Meet Our Readers: Hanna Martine

Hanna Martine left a decade of office work in order to show her daughter what it meant to go after one's dream. She loves bar stools, books, travel and her friends. Though she and her family live outside Chicago, her heart resides in Australia. She writes paranormal and

Participants Reading #53

Meet Our Readers: Sondra Morin

Sondra Morin is an essayist, poet, and social critic. She earned her B.A. in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is an alumna of the Juniper Summer Writing Institute. Poems, prose, and commentary appear in American Public Media's Marketplace, Curbside Splendor, Two With Water, vis

Participants Reading #53

Meet Our Readers: Andrew Huff

Andrew Huff is the editor and publisher of Gapers Block, a Chicago-centric news and events webzine he co-founded in 2003. A serial early adopter, Huff created his first webpage in 1996; launched his personal blog, me3dia.com, in 2001; and joined both flickr and Twitter in their infancy. In addition

Participants Other Series

Meet Our Readers: Andrew Reilly

Andrew Reilly is the director of publishing for 2nd Story and co-editor of the anthology Briefly Knocked Unconscious by a Low-Flying Duck. His work, much of which was written in Uptown, has appeared in a number of fine publications.  Visit him there in person, or online at AndrewReilly.org. Andrew

Personnel Other Series

Meet Our Readers: Julia Borcherts

Julia Borcherts is a 2nd Story company member, a co-founder and co-host of the literary series Reading Under the Influence and The Chicago Way, a fiction writing instructor at Columbia College Chicago, a theater columnist for the RedEye, and a frequent contributor to Time Out Chicago and the Windy City

Participants Reading #51

Meet Our Readers: Jac Jemc

Jac Jemc's first novel, My Only Wife, was released from Dzanc earlier this year. She is the poetry editor for decomP and a fiction web editor at Hobart. She blogs her rejections at jacjemc.com. Please come see Jac and the rest of our talented readers at 7:

Participants Reading #51

Meet Our Readers: Mary Lorenz

A New Orleans native, Mary Lorenz relocated to Chicago five years ago for a job and a mad craving for Rainbow Cone. A copywriter by day, Mary Lorenz spends her free time writing and performing in and around Chicago - oftentimes for actual audiences. These days, you can find her

Participants Reading #51

Meet Our Readers: Mary Zemaitis

Mary Zemaitis won her second-grade writing contest for the groundbreaking story "The Stolen Princess." The piece documented a sea princess's struggle against underwater witches. It is considered Mary's definitive work because her teacher laminated it. Pretty much downhill from there. As an adult, Mary

Participants Reading #51

Meet Our Readers: Kelly Swails

Kelly Swails is a writer who pays the bills by editing an online scientific journal. Her short fiction has appeared in several anthologies including "Predator and Prey 2" and "Boondocks Fantasy." She and her husband are in the process of moving to Chicago. When she'

Participants Reading #51

Meet Our Readers: B. E. Pinkham

B. E. Pinkham has held various paying jobs in commercial photography, interior design and customer service management but considers her true career to be as non-market skill specialist in the disciplines of creative writing, visual art and community building. Originally from Long Island, she moved to the Midwest and earned

Participants Reading #50

Meet Our Readers: The Colin & Ishmael Players

The Colin & Ishmael Players came together in a hilarious meet-cute when they all tried to rob the same lemonade stand.  In the back of the patrol car, they decided to attempt one last big score together.  That is, unless they make it big in show biz first.  Stay tuned,

Participants Reading #50

Meet Our Readers: John Everson

John Everson is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Covenant, as well as the novels Sacrifice, The 13th, Siren, and The Pumpkin Man, all released in paperback from Dorchester/Leisure Books. His sixth novel, an erotic horror descent into dark desire centered around a mysterious adult club called NightWhere is

Participants Reading #50

Meet Our Readers: Cynthia (cina) Pelayo

Cynthia (cina) Pelayo grew up in a haunted house with very superstitious parents in Chicago's northwest side. She is a recent graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Master of Fine Art in Writing program, where she says she majored in the macabre.

Participants Reading #48

Meet Our Readers: Rajan Khanna

Rajan Khanna is a fiction writer, blogger, narrator, and graduate of the 2008 Clarion West Writers Workshop. His work has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, GUD, PodCastle, and The Way of the Wizard, among others. His articles have appeared at Tor.com and his podcast narrations can be heard at

Participants Reading #48

Meet Our Readers: Rae Carson

Rae Carson was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start Author for Fall 2011. Her debut novel, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, was a finalist for the Morris, Norton, Cybils, and Ohioana Awards, and was named to ALA's 2012 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults list. It

Participants Reading #48

Meet Our Readers: Daryl Gregory

Daryl Gregory is an award-winning writer of genre-mixing novels, stories, and comics. His first novel, Pandemonium, won the Crawford Award and was nominated for a World Fantasy Award. His second novel, The Devil's Alphabet, was named one of the best books of the year by Publisher's

Participants Reading #48

Meet Our Readers: Adam Rakunas

Adam Rakunas lives in Southern California with his wife and daughter.  His work has been published by So New Media and Futurismic.  He is currently working on a science fiction novel about sex, violence, and labor relations. Please join Adam and the rest of our crew of excellent readers in