Lily Be is a momma, a nanny, and storyteller. She's a wise Mexican badass from Humboldt Park, Chicago. You can hear her tells stories everywhere and anywhere. Lily is a Moth GrandSLAM champion and the host and producer of her own storytelling show, The Stoop. A bio does not do Lily Be justice. After listening to her stories, you should talk to her and invite her over to make tamales. Experience the magic that is Lily Be.

Please join Lily and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Robert Loerzel is a freelance journalist and photographer in Chicago. His historical nonfiction book Alchemy of Bones: Chicago's Luetgert Murder Case of 1897 was published in 2003 by the University of Illinois Press. His reporting and writing have appeared in many publications, including the Tribune, the Reader, Chicago magazine, Crain's Chicago Business, Playbill, Belt magazine and Time Out Chicago. He has reported on-air for WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, including stories for the Curious City show. Robert's concert photography and reviews appear on his blog, undergroundbee.com. His Twitter account, @robertloerzel, has more than 8,500 followers, and in 2013, the Newcity alternative newspaper named him the "Best Chicago Twitterer for news."

Please join Robert and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

James Finn Garner is the author of the award-winning clown noir mystery series, Rex Koko, Private Clown, as well as the Politically Correct Bedtime Stories trilogy. A former columnist for Chicago Magazine, he has also read extensively at Chicago's "live lit" events. During the season, he publishes and curates a blog of baseball poetry and doggerel, Bardball.com.

Please join James and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Are you ready for spring? Get ready for warmer weather with some eclectic live lit at Tuesday Funk on April 5. Join us in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf for readings by Robert Loerzel, Jessi DiBartolomeo, James Finn Garner, Lily Be and Joe Meno! Andrew Huff and Eden Robins are your witty co-hosts, and Jason will be behind the bar, ready to whet your whistle

Doors open at 7pm -- no earlier! really! -- and the show starts at 7:30 sharp. So get there early to grab a seat, but not too early. As always, admission is free, but you must be 21 or older. And come early or stay late after for some great Belgian-style food downstairs.

Please RSVP on Facebook, and bring a friend. And don't forget to become a fan so you never miss an invitation to one of our readings.

Tuesday Funk co-host Andrew Huff paid his respects to Eden Robins' car, felled by a tree, at the March 1 show.

The promised snow storm
arrived a week later, so
thank you for coming.

It's Super Tuesday!
Let's hope people vote with
brains, not bigotry.

Make America
safe from that vulgarian
Donald Trump again.

This is how it ends.
Not with a nomination,
but with a "Please clap."

Requiem for a
2004 Elantra.
Felled by an old tree.

Super Tuesday may be super, but it can't hold a candle to Tuesday Funk. Matt Fogarty put us in the right mood with his stories about space traveling dinosaurs and going to the moon in a barrel, and then Felix Jung mellowed us out with his wistful poems about love, death, and other juicy poetry stuff. Then Rosamund Lannin finished off the half with a meditation on the many meanings of fear and failure.

Bartender Alex filled our glasses expertly.

After the half, co-host Andrew Huff read his well-loved haiku, and then Kelly Swails entertained us with a chapter from her new book about a school for world domination, This May Go on your Permanent Record. Finally, Mark Borowsky had us roaring with his essay about his obsession with watching sports and how the many-worlds interpretation gives him comfort.

Here's a tip: Take a break from politics to make and support art. Your brain deserves better than Trump! So come see us next month, on Tuesday, April 5 with Joe Meno, Robert Loerzel, Jessi DiBartolomeo, James Finn Garner, and Lily Be!

It's Super Tuesday! Come ignore politics for a couple hours at Tuesday Funk tonight! We have a wonderful lineup for you, featuring Kelly Swails, Felix Jung, Mark Borowsky, Matt Fogarty and Rosamund Lannin.

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. RSVP on Facebook if you like. See you there!

Originally from the suburbs of Detroit, Matthew Fogarty currently lives and writes in Urbana, Illinois and is co-publisher at Jellyfish Highway Press. He has an MFA from the University of South Carolina, where he was editor of Yemassee. His fiction has appeared in such journals as Passages North, Fourteen Hills, PANK, Smokelong Quarterly, and Midwestern Gothic. His debut collection of 34 stories and a novella titled, Maybe Mermaids and Robots are Lonely, will be released this fall by George Mason University's Stillhouse Press. He can be found online at matthewfogarty.com and on Twitter at @thatmattfogarty.

Please join Matthew and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, March 1, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Felix Jung received his MFA in Creative Writing from The Ohio State University in 2000. His writing has appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, and Cassette From My Ex - an anthology of personal essays on relationships in the era of the mix tape. His online projects have been featured on BoingBoing, MetaFilter, and Product Hunt. You can find him on Twitter @avoision, or at his website avoision.com - a personal blog he's updated every single day since July, 2002.

Please join Felix and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, March 1, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Kelly Swails is a fantasy and science fiction author who has published over two dozen short stories and a novel. She's also an editor who has edited five anthologies of short fiction. Her latest book is called This May Go On Your Permanent Record and is available on Amazon. Her novel Prohibited will be kickstarted by Silence in the Library Publishing later this month. She and her husband live in Chicago with their three cats. Oh yeah, she's a crazy cat lady too.

Please join Kelly and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, March 1, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.