Mare Swallow is a full-time public speaking and communications coach, occasional writer, and sometimes ukulele player. She shares her stories at events like this one - Tuesday Funk! Find her at mariannaswallow.com.

Please join Mare and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, June 4, 2019 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. Please RSVP on Facebook.

James Finn Garner is a humorist and author of 9 books, the most famous of which is Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, which was an international bestseller and can be found on top of toilet tanks in bathrooms nationwide. He has written for stage, radio and comic strip, and is the creator of the webcomic Single White Vigilante, a Justice/Regret cocktail, with swords. He has performed at lit events around the city, including Louder than a Mom, The Paper Machete, Essay Fiesta, The Frunchroom, and You're Being Ridiculous.

Please join James and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, June 4, 2019 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. Please RSVP on Facebook.

Erin Watson is a Southern person living in Chicago. Her poetry chapbooks include No Experiences and Breathtaken. Her essays and criticism appear on the Volta Blog and in the forthcoming zine We Can Turn the World To Gold: A Carly Rae Jepsen Fanzine. Erin was a 2018 semifinalist and a 2014 finalist for the Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards.

Please join Erin and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, June 4, 2019 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. Please RSVP on Facebook.

Bill Savage teaches Chicago literature, history, and culture at Northwestern University and the Newberry Library of Chicago. He is currently working on a book entitled The City Logical: Or Why Daniel Burnham is Freaking Over-Rated, a history of Chicago based on the organization (and disorganization) of the city's street naming and address system (the Grid) by the way-freaking-underrated Edward P. Brennan. (Note: he expects to get some push-back on his current working subtitle, and on his over-reliance on parenthetical asides.)

Please join Bill and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, June 4, 2019 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. Please RSVP on Facebook.

The sun is out, the flowers are blooming, the trees are green and by the beginning of June we'll all remember why we live in Chicago -- for its amazing live lit, of course! Join us for a power-packed lineup for the 128th edition on Tuesday Funk on June 4 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf! Your favorite eclectic monthly reading series will feature readings by Bill Savage, Erin Watson, Mare Swallow, Elizabeth Gomez and James Finn Garner.

Admission to Tuesday Funk is free, but you must be 21 to attend. Doors open at 7pm sharp (tables fill up fast, so get there on time!) and the show will start at 7:30pm. Please RSVP, and don't forget to like and follow us on Facebook so you get our announcements right in your stream.

What a wonderful show we had on May 7! The crowd was standing room only in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf, and the stellar lineup had everyone rapt. Kathryn Kruse led us off with two sad-and-funny short pieces. Next, Jenn Rourke told a story about being a "bad Catholic" who ended up playing a nun in a high school musical. Tracy Harford-Porter took us into the intermission with a beguiling bit of sci-fi fantasy involving mermaids.

We refilled our drinks and talked about what we'd heard, and then Megan Maile Manley read a distressingly funny POV story about parking lot drama, and Jocelyn Geboy closed out the show with a series of lamentations about modern life in the city.

If you missed out, there's another opportunity to see Chicago's favorite eclectic reading series next month. On June 4, we'll feature readings by Bill Savage, Erin Watson, Mare Swallow, Elizabeth Gomez and James Finn Garner. Hope to see you there!

Don't miss our amazing readers: Jocelyn Geboy, Megan Maile Manley, Tracy Harford-Porter, Jenn Rourke, and Kathryn Kruse!

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. And check it out -- You can now order food from our bartender! See you there!

Tracy Harford-Porter was born in Brooklyn, NY and now resides in the Chicago suburbs. She has worked for Essence Communications as a photo editor, the Harlem Children's Zone as the managing editor of Harlem Overheard, StoryCorps as a facilitator coordinator, and Goldman Sachs as a long-term administrative temp/secret ethnographer. Tracy is a 2008 graduate of Clarion West and proud alum of Columbia University School of General Studies, majoring in anthropology. She is currently reworking a NaNoWriMo project into a novel and a screenplay because she is a masochist.

Please join Tracy and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, May 7, 2019 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. Please RSVP on Facebook.

Jocelyn Geboy is a freelance writer and performer living in Albany Park. She's the creator of CHIRP Radio's story series The First Time and hopes to get a one woman show on the books by the end of the year. She's performed at a variety of places, including Listen To Your Mother, Resilient, and We Have Questions. You can currently find her at www.threeleftproductions.com, and all over the web @smussyolay.

Please join Jocelyn and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, May 7, 2019 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. Please RSVP on Facebook.

You can hear Jenn Rourke on the air at CHIRP Radio 107.1 FM as DJ Ninja on Fridays from 6-8 p.m. Jenn has been a DJ for 18 years at various community and college stations across Illinois. She currently serves as a CHIRP production director and on the station's programming committee. Jenn most recently performed CHIRP's live lit series First Time show, and has volunteered for that show in various capacities for 8 years, currently as recordist and producer of the podcast. By day, she works at ABC7 Chicago, and in previous lives worked at WGN Radio, Second City, and as a gymnastics instructor. Jenn has twice appeared on the 20x2 Chicago live lit series stage as well. She's also a local leader in the Online News Association's Chicago chapter.

Please join Jenn and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, May 7, 2019 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. Please RSVP on Facebook.