Brace yourself, because do we have an amazing Tuesday Funk lined up for you! For our 61st episode, we've put together a roster that includes MacArthur Fellowship winner Aleksandar Hemon, whose recent The Book of My Lives has been garnering acclaim around the world.

As if that's not enough, we'll also have Virginia Konchan, Lania Knight, Norman Doucet, and another missionary story from co-host William Shunn. Throw in one of our patented Poems by Bill and a fistful of Haiku by Andrew, not to mention your pick of cold beers from around the world, and you've got all the ingredients for a legendary late-summer evening.

The evening gets underway with your hosts William Shunn and Andrew Huff on Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013, 7:30 pm, in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark St., Chicago. Arrive early for a table and grab a beer from Mark at the bar (where credit cards are now accepted!). We start seating at 7:00 pm and no earlier. Admission is always free, but you must be 21 or older. And come early or stay late after for some great Belgian-style food downstairs.

Please bring plenty of friends, and become a fan of Tuesday Funk on Facebook so you never miss an invitation to one of our readings. See you there!

It was a packed house for this week's edition of Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf. If you weren't able to be there, here's what our terrific, attentive audience saw.

We kicked things off with Dmitry Samarov, who walked us through his travails the night the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup. Steven H Silver then took us back to Sodom and Gomorrah for an adventure narrated by a decidedly undiabolical demon. Co-host Andrew Huff followed up his monthly haiku with a charmingly dirty tongue-twister he attempted to teach to the crowd. And Maggie Jenkins hilariously replayed for us her summer selling children's study guides door-to-door.

After a break for beer and a Poem by Bill called "Beware of Dog," novelist Jac Jemc read us an evocative story of small-town girls sliding slowly into juvenile delinquency. And finally, epic fantasy writer Bradley P. Beaulieu transported us to Imperial Japan for a tale of funeral rites and surprising intrigue.

All in all, it was an delightful night, but if you couldn't be there, don't despair. We'll bring you plenty of video excerpts in the weeks to come, and then we'll be back on Tuesday, September 3, 2013, with a program featuring Aleksandar Hemon, William Shunn, Virginia Konchan, Lania Knight, and Norman Doucet. Don't miss it!

Don't forget—tonight is Tuesday Funk's 60th episode, featuring Bradley P. Beaulieu, Jac Jemc, Steven H Silver, Maggie Jenkins, and Dmitry Samarov. Don't miss it!

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 in from the restaurant. See you there!

At our July 2nd edition of Tuesday Funk, Kendra Stevens brought us back to her childhood in her delightful personal essay "Emily Olsen's Face, Meet My Fist," and it sounded a little like this...

And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, August 6th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with Bradley P. Beaulieu, Jac Jemc, Steven H Silver, Maggie Jenkins, and Dmitry Samarov. That's tomorrow night! Be there!

At our June 4th edition of Tuesday Funk, Heather Corallo presented her personal essay "A Mother's Love," and it sounded quite a bit like this...

And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, August 6th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with Bradley P. Beaulieu, Jac Jemc, Steven H Silver, Maggie Jenkins, and Dmitry Samarov.

Steven H Silver is a publisher, editor, author, poet, and reviewer ... in his "free time." When he isn't messing around in the literary arts, he raises his two daughters, spends time with his wife, and shores up the foundation of his house so it doesn't collapse under the weight of books—his own personal collection and the warehouse for ISFiC Press.

Steven has been questioned by the police outside the KGB building in Russia, spent several days chauffeuring Buzz Aldrin, and was a Jeopardy! champion. His writing has been features in Zombie Raccoons & Killer Bunnies, Helix, BookPage, Love & Rockets, and The New York Review of Science Fiction, and amazingly enough has been translated into French, Japanese, and Russian.

Please join Steven and all our outstanding readers on Tuesday, August 6th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

At our July 2nd edition of Tuesday Funk, co-host Andrew Huff delivered another fistful of his signature topical—but not tropical—haiku:

Some lucky people
are a haiku on their own.
Eden M. Robins.

This rain will not stop.
Our homes will soon float away.
Chicago renewed.

What I'd like to know
is when July's heat arrives,
will you still complain?

Supreme Court in June:
DOMA and Prop 8 struck down;
same with voter rights.

Since Bill's in New York
might Tuesday Funk now become
a two-state reading?

And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, August 6th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with Bradley P. Beaulieu, Jac Jemc, Steven H Silver, Maggie Jenkins, and Dmitry Samarov.

Maggie Jenkins is a comic, storyteller, writer, runner, and rapper. She performs standup regularly with the kates, a twice-monthly all-female comedy showcase, and has also performed at the Chicago Women's Funny Festival, Zanies, Studio BE, and The Lincoln Lodge. Maggie has been a featured storyteller at The Funny Story Show, I Shit You Not, and Story Club, where she was voted the audience favorite.

A three-time Chicago Marathoner, Maggie is co-author of the blog RulesForRunning.com, and she's also one-fourth of She's Crafty, Chicago's all-female Beastie Boys tribute. You can see her with She's Crafty on August 10 at Gallery Cabaret in Bucktown, and telling jokes at the kates on August 31 at the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square.

Please join Maggie and all our outstanding readers on Tuesday, August 6th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

At our July 2nd edition of Tuesday Funk, Bill Breedlove read his short story "Missus Mojo" to a disbelieving crowd, and it sounded just a bit like this...

And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, August 6th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with Bradley P. Beaulieu, Jac Jemc, Steven H Silver, Maggie Jenkins, and Dmitry Samarov.

Dmitry Samarov was born in Moscow, U.S.S.R., in 1970. He emigrated to the U.S. with his family in 1978.

He got in trouble in 1st grade for doodling on his Lenin Red Star pin and hasn't stopped doodling since.

After a false start at Parsons School of Design in New York, he graduated with a BFA in painting and printmaking from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1993.

Upon graduation he promptly began driving a cab—first in Boston, then after a time in Chicago—which eventually led to the publication of his illustrated work memoir Hack: Stories from a Chicago Cab by University of Chicago Press in 2011.

He has exhibited his work in all manner of bars, coffeeshops, libraries, and even the odd gallery (when he's really hard up).

He paints and writes in Chicago, Illinois. He no longer drives a cab.

Please join Dmitry and all our outstanding readers on Tuesday, August 6th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.