Gothic Funk

Please join us for the next reading on Tuesday, September 9th:

JOTHAM BURRELLO teaches in the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College where he directs the publishing lab. His work has appeared in literary journals, many of which you have never heard of. He also runs the multimedia company erpmedia.net.

AMY DAVIS founded the nonprofit WorkShirts Writing Center, where she taught fiction workshops and ran a public reading series for five years, before leaving to focus on her own fiction and freelance writing again. She also served as editor-in-chief of the award-winning literary journal Fish Stories. Her short fiction and nonfiction have appeared nationally in The Sun and Book magazine, and she has received two artist residencies at Ragdale for a novel-in-progress. Currently, she is completing a nonfiction book, Art Works, with the artist Don Seiden, and is co-founder and the director of The Writers WorkSpace (www.writersworkspace.com), a shared studio and meeting space for writers in Chicago.

DON SEIDEN is a professor emeritus at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he founded SAIC’s master of arts in art therapy program and taught in the sculpture and art education departments. As a visual artist, he has exhibited work in over thirty-five shows, was charter president of the Illinois Art Therapy Association, and has mentored other artists from around the world. He also has published three books, Artobiography (Fisheye Graphics, 2007), Mind Over Matter (Magnolia Street Press, 2000), and the first edition of the co-authored Direct Metal Sculpture (Crown Publishing, 1966). His latest book of nonfiction is called Art Works: How Making Art Illuminates Your Life. His website is www.donseiden.com.

CONNOR COYNE grew up in the East Village of Flint, Michigan. He received degrees from the University of Chicago and the New School in New York City. He is a cofounder of the Gothic Funk Nation, and his work has been featured in the Dick Pig Review. Connor lives in Uptown, Chicago, and maintains a website at www.hereisnowhy.com.

LUKE ANDERSON was one of the founding members of the Writers Workspace in Andersonville/Edgewater. He has been a rodman, a mailman, a high school teacher, a translator, a content development project manager, a barista, and an editor. He is currently a husband and father. Someday, he would like to add ‘published fiction writer’ to the list.

J-L DEHER-LESAINT was born and raised in Guadeloupe (French West Indies) and moved to the United States in 1995 where he earned degrees from Harold Washington College, Loyola University Chicago, and the University of Virginia. His most recent publications include feature-length interviews with Edmund White and Edward P. Jones. He is an English professor at Harold Washington College.

HALLIE GORDON divides her time between Chicago and London where she is a graduate student in Creative Writing at Brunel University. She is the author of several plays including Imaginary Nostalgia, Trick of the Light and Dry Lightning. She is currently working on a first novel titled Dreaming of Heaven. Hallie is proud to be one of the organizers of Tuesday Funk.

JENNY GAVACS is an ex-journalist, ex-New Yorker and ex-expat. She has a B.S. in journalism, an M.A. in creative writing and works in book publishing. Her work has appeared in House & Garden magazine and Otium, the online literary magazine she helped found. For two years she lived, ate and loved in France, but she is very happy to be back in Chicago.

ELIZABETH REEDER lived in Glasgow, Scotland for twelve years and now lives in Chicago researching and writing her next novel and completing her PhD in Creative Writing. Her fiction appears in respected journals and anthologies in the UK and the US (Women’s Press, Polygon, Hanging Loose, Chapman, PN Review). She’s had an original drama, stories and an abridgement broadcast on BBC Radio 4. An excerpt of her novel, The Fremont Inheritance, has been published by Long Lunch Press and is one in a series of slim volumes which pair well known authors (Irvine Welsh, Annie Proulx, James Meek, Edwin Morgan) with newbies, such as herself.

REINHARDT SUAREZ is back in Chicago after forays into Ozark Country and the concrete wilds of New York City . He is a graduate of Loyola-Chicago’s Creative Writing program and has an MFA from The New School in New York . He is currently at work on a young adult novel, Guessing and Keeping Still, and perhaps, one day, he may even finish it. He is also pleased to be one of the illustrious hosts of Tuesday Funk, though he insists that he is the least illustrious of the three.

RICHARD BENJAMIN received his MFA in fiction from Washington University. His stories have been published in Natural Bridge, The Ginkgo Tree Review, and Puerto Del Sol. He is a winner of the AWP Intro Award for Fiction.

SETH CHAMBERS stories have been published in Aberrations and Alien Skin magazines and are also posted online at Storyhouse. His novel in progress, Twilight is the story of Chari, a woman of magic, reluctantly coming to terms with her extraordinary gift.

KATIE HURLEY studied creative writing at Loyola University and is completing her Masters in Fiction at Northwestern University. Her work has appeared in the Union League Civic & Arts Foundation’s Creative Writing anthology, Cadence and Diminuendo. She is currently working on a collection of short stories.

MAGGIE KAST received an M.F.A. in fiction from Vermont College and has published stories in The Sun, Nimrod, Kaleidoscope, Rosebud, Paper Street, and Carve. Her essays have appeared in Image: Art, Faith, Mystery, Writer’s Chronicle and others. She is currently at work on a book-length memoir, excerpts from which have appeared in America, Image and ACM (Another Chicago Magazine). The latter received a Pushcart nomination and an Illinois Arts Council Literary Award.

JACOB SAENZ is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago. His work has appeared in Rhino, Inkstains, and Poetry Magazine.