The weather? Confusing. The news? Confounding. The earth? Please don’t ask.

In a time where dictators and billionaires are firing and hiring faster than sun turns to snow round here, we need solace. We need our freedom of speech, our freedom to assemble, and our freedom to make a 13th month like The Simpsons told us to. This…is Freedom of Smarch.

Write Club Chicago once again provides a space for artists to express, an audience to cheer, and a timekeeper to make an X with his arms as 7 minutes runs out on the clock.

Here’s your lineup:

LOCAL (Keith Ecker) vs GLOBAL (Eduardo Xavier Curley-Carrillo)

LION (Delilah Orizaba) vs LAMB (Edward Thomas Hererra) 

RELENT (Jitesh Jiaggi) vs REVOLT (Elana Elyce)

It’s gonna get good at heated at GMan Tavern on March 18, but don’t you worry. There are plenty of drinks to keep you cool, an air purifier to keep you healthy, and masks encouraged to keep you safe.

Sponsored by 312unes and KBH Media. Attended and loved by you

The air is crisp, and bold gusts of wind blow leaves around your neighbor’s 12-foot skeleton they dressed in a jaunty scarf holding a giant pumpkin spice latte. In their attempt to make Halloween a little less scary, they’ve reminded you that capitalism is truly the only ghoul hiding in the shadows. Your rage meter spikes as you walk by, warming your insides and boiling your brain. “Only one month til Election Day,” you seethe as you stab the pumpkin you’re supposed to be gleefully carving. “This weather means the dark is coming,” you mutter as you kick leaves in the gutter. “Winter will be here soon, along with our discontent,” you spit into the faces of trick or treaters. You’d better get yourself to WRITE CLUB: Full Size Angry Bars and let that ire out, friend. Have some candy.

WRITE CLUB RETURNS to soothe your souls and help you rage on October 15th at GMan Tavern. Six writer-combatants come inside from the bluster to deliver you beautifully wrapped truths and a hot cup of Giving A Shit at 7:30 on a weeknight. Only three of our combatants will collect $100 and The Loving Cup of Deathless Fucking Glory, while the other three get $50 and a comforting punch on the shoulder. Dress up like an arts supporter and lend your voice to vote on the winners. Only you can decide their fate. All treats here, friends. Trickery is for politicians and hucksters - Write Club is the real deal.

Here is your support system of incredible talent:

TRICK (Scott Duff) vs TREAT (Azziza Robinson)

GHOST (David Kodeski) vs ZOMBIE (Tania Richard) 

CALM (Binkey Tolefree) vs PANIC (Shariba Rivers)

Corrbette Pasko returns to host and Josh Zagoren is back as Timekeeper, because combatants have seven minutes and no more to make their case. Anything more than seven minutes…is death. Write Club Chicago is saving lives, but you need to be there to see it happen.

Ahhh, Chicago summer. Everyone is outside and somehow shirtless, the air is a dog's mouth, and a street festival has interrupted your commute. What do we say to visitors about these months? "We've waited all year for this!" You're damn right we have.

Write Club closes out a banger of a 14th season on June 25th, a week later than the usual third Tuesday because it’s the Cubs’ summer and we’re just living in it. But that only gives us more time to build the combustable literary energy that will explode the roof off of GMan Tavern. What’s the formula? Just. Look. At. This. Lineup.

SUN (Lily Be) v SHADE (Bear Bellinger) 

THUNDER (Michael Jones) v LIGHTNING (Christopher Walsh)

CURIOSITY (Himabindu Poroori) v CAT (Jitesh Jiaggi)

Corrbette Pasko is back at the host mic while Josh Zagoren keeps the time to a tight 7 minutes. Blink and you’ll miss it. So don’t blink.

Happening at GMan Tavern at 7:30pm on 6/25. Sponsored by Maplewood Brewing and Distillery. Air scrubbed by Clean Air Club. Attended and loved by you.

Spring as sprung, fucked off, and sprung again, like a meterorological jack-in-the-box we'd like very much to punch. What fun! Keep your layer game sharp, and soothe your weather weary soul with Write Club Chicago.

We're back, and we've got Corrbette Pasko in the host seat, with Josh Zagoren in the Time Timer chair. So there's two seats taken. Better grab the rest. Why? Feast your eyes, chumball.

Your lineup, coming in like a liger and out like a mastodon eating woe and strife for a snack:

Stephanie Douglass (LION) v Binkey Tolefree (LAMB)
Elizabeth Gomez (MIX) v Eduardo Curley Carrillo (MATCH)
Nestor Gomez (KICK) v RC Riley (PUNCH)

The world is a lot, but the words are more. Literature as bloodsport has never been such a balm in this chaotic timeline. GMan Tavern crackles to life on March 19th at 7:30pm.

Air scrubbed by Clean Air Club Chicago. Sponsored by Maplewood Brewery and Distillery. Attended and loved by you.
Let's get ready to Write Club.

Who needs a Valentine when you have meds and tacos exist? Besides, every one of you is Write Club’s Valentine, and no silly President’s Day celebration of drunken men who owned people is gonna change that. Welcome to WRITE CLUB: Anti-Depressident’s Day.

Warm your heart and your brains at the GMan Tavern on Tuesday, February 20th at 7:30PM CST. Bask in the glow of combatants, Katie Rich, Mike Atcherson, Jess Hutchinson, Josh Zagoren, Abbas Jaffary, and Bilal Dardai. Fill your senses with clean air from Clean Air Club and delicious brews from Maplewood Brewing and Distillery. In other words, kick President’s Day in the wooden teeth and get all the discounted candy after V Day. We got the good stuff.

The start of the Holiday Season™ is breathing cold pine and holly down our necks while we're contemplating the colonialist holiday that makes a meal out of oppression. Good thing Write Club Chicago is here to beat the stuffing out of us all. WRITE CLUB: Tryptophan Light Fantastic has a lineup more powerful than Turkey Sweats™ and will gird your heart and head for those family conversations across a table on fire by handing you gasoline and a hug. Fuck a pilgrim, let's have words.

Your lineup:

MAIN (Carly Lauren) v SIDE (Veronica Arreola)

EAT (Jeffrey Gardner) v DRINK (Carmenita Peoples)

FACT (Jennifer Peepas) v FICTION (Lily Be)

Charmingly hosted by Jill Hopkins-Olewnik and vigilantly timekept by Josh Zagoren. Gather round at Gman Tavern on November 21st. 7:30pm. Sponsored by Maplewood Brewery & Distillery. Clean air provided by Clean Air Club. $20 suggested donation. Because artists should get paid, and you should enjoy it.

The casket creaks open. The dust gathered from two whole months of silence flies into the air as a warning to those in its airspace: it is returning. The half rotted corpse of Write Club Chicago rises to a seated position, mumbles something about sciatica, and stands fully formed inside its coffin. We emerge, whole and victorious, ready to lead combatants into literary battle.

Hey, happy fall, huh? Who wants some apple crisp lattes?

Write Club is back at GMan Tavern on a special date for its season opener, and you don’t want to be the one person who misses it while the rest of us drink in the cinnamon goodness of wit and visceral truth. What an absolute pumpkin spiced letdown that would be. Here’s your lineup:

SUMMON (Sydney Charles) v DISMISS (Binkey Tolefree)

SPIKE (C. Russell Price) v SPICE (Ricky Harris)

TRICK (Amy Eaton) v TREAT (Nik Gallicchio)

Hosted by Corrbette Pasko, timekept by Josh Zagoren, sponsored by Maplewood Brewery.

Welcome to the Equinox, where the Earth hits "reset" and the rest of us meat sacks try to figure out what time it is. We see hope for Spring in every filthy, slushie-esque puddle; the chance for rebirth as hundreds of dog poop piles are laid bare, unobfuscated by snow. Truly, there are miracles every day.

The biggest one being the return of Write Club Chicago. You're welcome.

As the lamb begins to make its entrance/exit for the month, we gather for the warmth of blistering words at GMan Tavern. We put our hands to the screaming intonations of Corrbette Pasko, feeling life in our fingers. Josh Zagoren keeps the time so perfectly, daylight no longer needs saving. We are rowdy. We are at peace.

Your Smarch lineup will cleanse you for this Equinox, by fire and ice and the literary talent of the gods of renewal. Also, there's booze.

RAIN (Tara Sullivan) vs SHINE (Hannah Gamble)

HUNT (Keith Ecker) vs GATHER (Jacoby Cochran)

BLOOM (Amy Eaton) vs WILT (Nestor Gomez)

Tickets on sale at www.gmantavern.com

Get in there, nerds.