Kelly Swails is a writer, editor, and all-around geek. Her work has appeared in several anthologies as well as Shondaland.com. Currently, she's the Co-Director of the Writer's Symposium at Gen Con, a con-within-a-con for science fiction and fantasy writers. You can stalk her on twitter at @kellyswails or her website at, you guessed it, kellyswails.com.

Please join Kelly and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, February 4, 2020 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.

Ananda Lima's work has appeared in The American Poetry Review, Poets.org, The Kenyon Review Online, Colorado Review, Rattle, Jubilat, Hobart, The Common, and elsewhere. She has an MA in Linguistics from UCLA and an MFA in Creative Writing in Fiction from Rutgers University, Newark. She has served as the poetry judge for the AWP Kurt Brown Prize, as staff at the Sewanee Writers Conference and as a mentor in the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Immigrant Artist Program. She has taught at UCLA, Montclair State University and Rutgers University. Her chapbook, Translation (Paper Nautilus, 2019), won the 2018 Vella Chapbook Contest.

Please join Ananda and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, February 4, 2020 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.

We're getting into the heart of winter here, and Tuesday Funk would like to place "dibs" on your Feb. 4! Join Chicago's favorite eclectic monthly reading series in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf in Andersonville. We'll have readings by Kelly Swails, Ananda Lima, Lindsay Porter, Jessi D and Kendra Stevens. Andrew Huff and Eden Robins cohost as always.

As always, admission to Tuesday Funk is free, but you must be 21 to attend. Doors open at 7pm sharp (tables tend to fill up fast, so don't be late!) and the show will start at 7:30pm. Please RSVP on Facebook, and while you're there, go ahead like and follow us so you get our announcements in your news stream.

January shows are always fun at Tuesday Funk, because it's always packed with folks who are resolved not to let winter weather stop them from going out. It was standing room only in the upstairs lounge of Hopleaf on Jan. 7, and the crowd was treated to some excellent writing.

Maggie Queeney got us started with a sampling of poems, some from her chapbook settler. Next, Michael Palmer read a glossary of terms from his time in West Texas. Then Darshita Jain shared poems about recent events in the US and in India.

We took a break to refill drinks, and then cohost Andrew Huff read a couple of his topical haiku. Then Cameron McGill recited several poems from his forthcoming chapbook, Meridians. Last but not least, Dimitry Samarov shared excerpts from his recently published memoir Soviet Stamps.

Want to make sure winter doesn't beat you? Join us on Tuesday, Feb. 4 for another edition of Tuesday Funk! We'll feature readings by Kelly Swails, Ananda Lima, Lindsay Porter, Jessi D and Kendra Stevens. Hope to see you then!

Not since 2000 has it been so hard to get accustomed to writing a new year. Join us on January 7, 2020(!!) for the year's first excellent installment of Tuesday Funk! Featuring Maggie Queeney, Cameron McGill, Darshita Jain, Michael Palmer, and Dmitry Samarov! And, of course, your perennial co-hosts, Andrew Huff and Eden Robins.

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!

Darshita Jain likes to call herself Quixotic. She is a grad student studying New Arts Journalism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the literary editor of F News Magazine. Most of the time, she oscillates between being the human version of an exclamation point and a question mark. Back home in India, she founded one of the country's first spoken word organizations where she performed and taught poetry and performance for three years. She wants to establish the importance of staying tender and rediscovering wonder.

Please join Darshita and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 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.

Dmitry Samarov paints and writes in Chicago. He published two books in 2019: Music to My Eyes (Tortoise Books) and Soviet Stamps (Pictures & Blather). He's also the author of two cabbie books: Hack: Stories from a Chicago Cab (2011) and Where to? A Hack Memoir (2014). He sometimes bartends and works in bookstores at other times. You can see more of his work than you want to at www.dmitrysamarov.com.

Please join Dmitry and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 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.

Michael William Palmer is a nonfiction writer whose work has appeared in Bellingham Review, CutBank, Georgetown Review, Alligator Juniper, West Texas Literary Review, and numerous other publications. His first book, Baptizing the Dead and Other Jobs, is a collection of essays about growing up in Utah and eventually leaving. He lives in Forest Park.

Please join Michael and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 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.

Cameron McGill is a poet and musician living in Moscow, ID. His poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Sonora Review, and elsewhere. His chapbook, Meridians, is forthcoming in February 2020 from Willow Springs Books. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Idaho and teaches in the English Department at Washington State University, where he serves as poetry editor of Blood Orange Review and co-director of the Visiting Writer Series.

Please join Cameron and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 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.

Maggie Queeney is a writer, visual artist, and educator. Recipient of the 2019 Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize, The Ruth Stone Scholarship, and a 2019 Individual Artists Program Grant from the City of Chicago, she is the author of settler, winner of the 2017 Baltic Writing Residency Poetry Chapbook Contest. Her recent work is found or forthcoming in The Colorado Review, The American Poetry Review, Denver Quarterly, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Syracuse University, and reads and writes in Chicago.

Please join Maggie and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 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.