Write Club Chicago, winner of the Best of the Best “Best Brainy Battle of Words” from Chicago Magazine, launches its 17th season Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Gman Tavern, in Chicago’s Lakeview East neighborhood, 3740 N. Clark St. Also, to celebrate the kick-off of the 17th season, the cover band Gargamel will perform immediately following the October “bouts.” In addition to its October season opener, Write Club Chicago shares its remaining events for 2026, Tuesday, Nov. 17 and Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Gman Tavern. October Combatants to be announced this September. Tickets are a suggested donation of $25 and are available at the door the night of the event, doors open at 7 p.m. More information available at WriteClubNation.com.
Write Club Chicago recently premiered this August in New York City with combatants Ophira Eisenberg, Negin Farsad and Gabe Ruiz and returns to Chicago with its infamous “bout” format, in which three rounds of combatant writer-performers face off with original, seven-minute essays on competing topics – such as “Trick vs. Treat” to win prize money and claim the cherished Loving Cup of Deathless F***ing Glory. Winners are decided by the audience following each “bout.”
(L to R) Combatants Elana Elyce and Jitesh Jaggi at WRITE CLUB CHICAGO. Photo by Sarah Elizabeth Larson
Write Club Chicago, initially founded by Ian Belknap and Lindsay Muscato, is the world's foremost competitive reading series, featuring the most audacious and fearsome of writers and performers. The evening offers quick, crafted performed essays: an immediate art form that takes audiences on a seven-minute ride they will not forget. Belknap first described the show as “Live Lit,” a turn of phrase which then became widely applied to the variety of storytelling shows produced throughout the city.
"Every audience member who experiences Write Club for the first time wonders why they didn't see it sooner. We'd like to save you that heartache with Season 17,” said Producer and Host Corrbette Pasko. “Every month, from October - June, we round up incredible artists to perform their words in a room full of actual human beings. Nothing beats that live experience. We pit them against each other in the most supportive, creative environment we know and let the audience learn something without even realizing it. We've wowed New York, Atlanta is selling out shows and we now return to the Mothership to give you the best show around. It's a literary bar brawl and you're home at a decent hour."
The audience at WRITE CLUB CHICAGO. Photo by Sarah Elizabeth Larson
Write Club’s stage represents the full breadth of Chicago’s sharpest writing talent, bringing together contenders from across the city’s diverse range of identities in a lively, entertaining show. Past combatants include Breon Arzell, Sam Bailey, Lily Be, Sydney Charles, McKenzie Chinn, Jacoby Cochran, Scott Duff, Jen Ellison, Nestor Gomez, Ike Holter, Samantha Irby, David Isaacson, Jitesh Jaggi, Carly Oishi, Jeremy Owens, Jennifer Peepas, Katie Rich, Megan Stielstra, Sherman “6 Figga Dilla” Thomas and Binkey Tolefree.
(L to R) Combatants Josh Zagoren and Eduardo Xavier Curley-Carrillo at WRITE CLUB CHICAGO. Photo by Sarah Elizabeth Larson
ABOUT CORRBETTE PASKO, PRODUCER AND HOST
Corrbette Pasko is a Chicago native who hates the cold, so she's already self tortured enough to be a writer and an actor. She now does both of those things full time and therefore consumes the most coffee. She is the host/producer/Overbeing at Write Club Chicago, which showcases the best writer-performers in the city in an all-out word brawl we call “Literature as Bloodsport.” She is also the creator of the GenX Update, found on TikTok and Instagram at @Corrbette. She also writes a lot of things with her swell writing partner, Sara Sevigny. They have a web series, because it's required of all citizens now, called "Corri and Sara Are Famous." It won a whole bunch of awards, but they’re proudest of the “making work with your friends and loving it award,” given by their brains. You can watch it here or here. Pasko also appears on stage from time to time as an actor including Northlight Theatre’s production of Birthday Candles, ranked as one of the Best of 2023 by the Chicago Tribune. She records voiceover most of the day and she is very sorry about that time you yelled to speak to an agent and she couldn’t help you. It wasn’t programmed in. She is represented by Big Mouth Talent and also, coincidentally, has a very big mouth.
Timer Josh Zagoren at WRITE CLUB CHICAGO. Photo by Sarah Elizabeth Larson
Write Club Chicago, winner of the Best of the Best “Best Brainy Battle of Words” from Chicago Magazine, launches its 17th season Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Gman Tavern, in Chicago’s Lakeview East neighborhood, 3740 N. Clark St. Also, to celebrate the kick-off of the 17th season, the cover band Gargamel will perform immediately following the October “bouts.” In addition to its October season opener, Write Club Chicago shares its remaining events for 2026, Tuesday, Nov. 17 and Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Gman Tavern. October Combatants to be announced this September. Tickets are a suggested donation of $25 and are available at the door the night of the event, doors open at 7 p.m. More information available at WriteClubNation.com.
The audience at WRITE CLUB CHICAGO. Photo by Sarah Elizabeth Larson
Combatant Loretta Perkins with the Write Club Chicago audience at WRITE CLUB CHICAGO. Photo by Sarah Elizabeth Larson
(L to R) Combatant Sonal Aggarwal, Producer and Host Corrbette Pasko and Combatant Jeremy Owens at WRITE CLUB CHICAGO. Photo by Sarah Elizabeth Larson
Timer Josh Zagoren, Combatant McKenzie Chinn, Producer and Host Corrbette Pasko and Combatant Veronica Arreola at WRITE CLUB CHICAGO. Photo by Sarah Elizabeth Larson
(L to R) Combatants Elana Elyce and Jitesh Jaggi at WRITE CLUB CHICAGO. Photo by Sarah Elizabeth Larson