Spend part of your holiday week with your favorite eclectic monthly reading series! Tuesday Funk is setting off fireworks in the upstairs lounge of Hopleaf on Tuesday, July 3 — readings by Mary Winn Heider, Ted McClelland, Siobhan Adcock, Alison Thumel and Tiffany Gholar!

As always, admission is free, but you must be 21 to attend. Doors open at 7pm sharp (don't dawdle if you want a seat!) and the show will start at 7:30pm. Please RSVP on Facebook -- and don't forget to like our page so you get our announcements right in your stream.

Sponsored by the Chicago Review of Books.

Cohost Andrew Huff's grandmother passed away in May at 97. His haiku at the June show were a remembrance of her.

My grandmother died
having lived in two countries:
Italy and here.

She immigrated
at 8, speaking no English,
to near Taylor Street.

No one in her class
would speak to her -- none except
a little black boy.

She left Taylor Street
and then Austin, in white flight,
for "safe" Mount Prospect.

In Arizona,
widowed, Fox News her comfort,
she never forgot.

Racism, fear, hate
melted away when she thought
of that kind black boy.

It was a lovely June evening, and Tuesday Funk #117 was in the air. The crowd settled in, and Mark Rader got us started with an excerpt from his forthcoming novel. Joshua Landsman followed with one of the parables from his book The Tale of The Teller of Tales, and Tracy Harford-Porter closed out the first half with a scene from a science-fiction novel in progress.

Bartender Leah refilled our drinks, and cohost Andrew Huff got the second half started with some haiku about his late grandmother. Then Sara Ross Witt shared a portion of the witchy YA book she's working on, and Elizabeth Gomez rounded out the evening with an essay about love and self-image.

If you weren't there, you missed a good one once again. But never fret, your favorite eclectic monthly reading series will be back in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf on Tuesday, July 3, with readings by Ted McClelland, Siobhan Adcock, Alison Thumel, Tiffany Gholar and Mary Winn Heider. There's bound to be fireworks — join us, won't you?

Come squander this nice weather by sitting indoors with a beer, basking in the glow of the brightest live lit this city has to offer! We've got Joshua Landsman, we've got Tracy Harford-Porter, we've got Mark Rader and Sara Ross Witt AND Elizabeth Gomez! And of course, Andrew Huff and Eden Robins will be there the whole time, too.

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 up from the restaurant. See you there!

Elizabeth Gomez is a comedian, writer, and a free bleeder. She performs all over the city, but you may have seen her on Check Please, which means she is Chicago famous now. She is the founding writer of Drinkers with Writing Problems, cast member of the Kates, founder of the Windy City Rollers, and possibly the reason your parents broke up. Catch her next at the Chicago Womens Funny Festival!

Please join Elizabeth and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook

Mark Rader is a fiction writer, artist, and father of two boys who are really into toilet-themed collectibles right now. His short fiction has been published in Glimmer Train, Epoch, The Southern Review and shortlisted for an O. Henry Award, the Best American Non-Required Reading anthology, and a Pushcart Prize. He has taught creative writing at Northeastern University and the University of Chicago's Graham School; recently finished writing his first novel, The Wanting Life; and is currently Director of Content Marketing at a swell Chicago company called Jellyvision.

Please join Mark and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.

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, June 5, 2018 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.

Joshua Landsman is the author of The Tale of The Teller of Tales (novel) and Frank Talk About Matters Big and Small (play). He works at a job for a company. He lives in a suburb on the edge of the city (you may have seen him). His sketchbook, Writers I Have Loved, has been featured on The Huffington Post, Print Magazine's blog, and The Paris Review blog.

Please join Joshua and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.

Sara Ross Witt is a former co-host of Tuesday Funk and a graduate of The New School MFA in Creative Writing program. Her writing has appeared in Arch City Chronicle, Parent to Parent, Black Market Lit, and Best of Ohio Short Stories volume 1 and 2. Sara grew up in Westerville, Ohio, the headquarters of the Anti-Saloon League. She summered off Lake Erie in Vermilion and was once lost at Lake Hope State Park during a thunderstorm at night. Her party - a group including her mother, brother, and a psychic - nearly fell into the lake until they were rescued by deer hunters. She often writes about Ohio, magic, and family. She lives Chicago's Budlong Woods neighborhood with her husband and their two sons. And she loves whiskey.

Please join Sara and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.

Spring is here, and the time is right for your favorite eclectic reading series! Join us for the 117th edition of Tuesday Funk, where we'll feature readings by Mark Rader, Sara Ross Witt, Joshua Landsman, Tracy Harford-Porter, and Elizabeth Gomez in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark St.

As always, admission is free, but you must be 21 to attend. Doors open at 7pm sharp (don't dawdle if you want a seat!) and the show will start at 7:30pm. Please RSVP on Facebook -- and don't forget to like our page so you get our announcements right in your stream.

Sponsored by the Chicago Review of Books.