Robert McDonald's prose and poetry have appeared in a wide variety of print and online journals, including Sentence, The New York Quarterly, Columbia Poetry Review, and The Prose-Poem Project. He lives in Andersonville, works at in independent bookstore, and blogs about poetry and other things at Lives of the Spiders. With Kathie Bergquist, he is the author of A Field Guide to Gay & Lesbian Chicago.

Please join Robert and all our outstanding readers on Tuesday, May 7th, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older-only event is free.

Suzanne Clores is an author of narrative nonfiction, and is working on her second book, titled Invisible: How I Came to Accept the Extraordinary. She has written for The Huffington Post, Smith, The Nervous Breakdown, Next Avenue, Natural Health, Martha Stewart Living, and Shambhala Sun, among other publications. She was once hired to write and produce a documentary for MSNBC on the neo-pagan movement, which, strangely, never aired. Her essays have run on Chicago Public Radio. She learned to take storytelling seriously both from her Italian grandfather and while working with David Isay a million years ago on several pieces for All Things Considered.

Suzanne's work often revolves around the American psycho-spiritual movement, a category into which her piece for May 7th also falls. Please join her and all our outstanding readers upstairs at Hopleaf that night at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older-only event is free.

There was a lot of luring going on at our April 2nd edition! When Wesley Chu stepped to the mike to read us an chapter from his forthcoming novel The Lives of Tao, it went a little like this...

If you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, May 7th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with Suzanne Clores, Mary Beth Hoerner, Robert McDonald, Dion Walton, and former co-host Sara Ross Witt. Don't miss it!

At our April 2nd edition, Reagan Keeter spun us his horrifying tale "Out of the Well," and it went a little like this...

If you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, May 7th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with Suzanne Clores, Mary Beth Hoerner, Robert McDonald, Dion Walton, and former co-host Sara Ross Witt. Don't miss it!

Attention, Funkers! Our longtime co-host William Shunn will be appearing next week in not one but two of Chicago's most thrilling other reading series. They'll be on consecutive nights, no less, so please block out Tuesday and Wednesday evenings on your calendar!

First comes WRITE CLUB, on Tuesday, April 16th, at The Hideout. In this bare-knuckle series, three pairs of writers square off with essays on opposing topics. The audience decides who wins, with all proceeds going to charities of the winners' choice. Bill will be defending GOD over DEVIL, for the One Tail at a Time dog rescue organization. Tickets are $10 cash at the door. Arrive early!

And the following night, Wednesday, April 17th, Bill will be part of CHIRP Radio's THE FIRST TIME at Second City's new UP Comedy Club. This monthly series assembles seven or so writers to reminisce about an important "first" from their lives, backed with specially chosen songs by The First Time Three. For April the topic will be "First Crime." Tickets are $10, and buying in advance is strongly recommended. (And get preferred seating with a dinner reservation!)

To recap...

We hope you'll come out to one or both of these events and help support the amazing and vibrant "live lit" scene in Chicago. And if you run into Bill, say hello and tell him Tuesday Funk sent you!

At our April 2nd edition last week, we welcomed new co-host Andrew Huff and introduced a new monthly feature of Tuesday Funk—Haiku by Andrew! For his debut appearance, Andrew dropped these spring verses on us:

"March Madness" for some
means college football games.
Others, bitter cold.

The lion is drunk
on green beer, shots, and snowfall.
The lamb may be late.

April showers in
cold spring, tucks wet hair under
an Easter bonnet

Chicago spring is
an act of faith that all will
be warm soon enough.

If you enjoyed that, we'll have more video from the evening coming up in the next few weeks. And please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, May 7th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with Suzanne Clores, Mary Beth Hoerner, Robert McDonald, Dion Walton, and former co-host Sara Ross Witt. Don't miss it!

In recognition of tomorrow's LDS General Conference in Salt Lake City, we're pleased to share William Shunn's reading from our January 1st episode. His personal essay "The Fanatic on the Street" took us on an intimate tour through the secrets of the flagship Mormon temple, and it sounded just a little like this...

And if you enjoyed that, please join us at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, May 7th, 2013, upstairs at Hopleaf, for an evening with Suzanne Clores, Mary Beth Hoerner, Robert McDonald, Dion Walton, and former co-host Sara Ross Witt. Don't miss it!

We've put together a leafy, green lineup for Tuesday Funk fit to feed a small village. The roster will feature Suzanne Clores, Mary Beth Hoerner, Robert McDonald, Dion Walton, and former co-host Sara Ross Witt. Throw in one of our patented Poems by Bill and some Haiku by Andrew, not to mention your pick of cold beers from around the world, and you've got all the ingredients for the most pleasant of spring evenings.

The festivities get underway with your hosts William Shunn and Andrew Huff on Tuesday, May 7th, 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 room for this past Tuesday night's edition of Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf, which means the chances are pretty good you were there enjoying it all with a cold beer in your hand. But if not, let us recap what you missed.

We kicked off the festivities with Jeremy Jasper, who brought us a heartfelt true tale of childhood terror. Reagan Keeter followed that up with his fanciful tale of childhood terror, featuring ghostly tots down an ominous well. New co-host Andrew Huff debuted a new monthly feature with a handful of Haiku by Andrew for spring. And Wesley Chu treated us to a funny-scary encounter with a mugger in an effervescent excerpt from his debut novel, The Lives of Tao.

After a break for beer, co-host William Shunn gave his short-short story "What Changed?" (written for 20x2 in Austin) its Chicago debut. Next, novelist and puppeteer Mary Robinette Kowal read us an entertaining excerpt from her latest novel, Without a Summer, then followed that up with a shadow-puppet play! And as if that weren't multimedia enough for you, Tuesday Funk co-founder Reinhardt Suarez made his triumphant return to our mike with excerpts from his novel The Green Ray of the Sun, overlain and interpersed with music from his fine band The Pork Chop Express.

All in all, it was an unforgettable program, and a great way to welcome Andrew aboard. 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 try to top ourselves yet again on Tuesday, May 7, 2013, with a program featuring Suzanne Clores, Mary Beth Hoerner, Robert McDonald, Dion Walton, and former co-host Sara Ross Witt. Don't miss it!

And, oh, yeah—shadow puppets!

Don't forget—tonight is Tuesday Funk's 56th episode, featuring Mary Robinette Kowal, Jeremy Jasper, Wesley Chu, Reagan Keeter, and Tuesday Funk co-founder Reinhardt Suarez. 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!