A Writer's Guide to Albuquerque

The Main Library opened in 1975, and in 2019 its Brutalist building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its five study rooms hold up to four people for two hours a day; check in at the information desk with your library card. A Friends of the Public Library bookshop and Al's Big Dipper sandwich shop are inside. It is closed Sundays.

Special Collections holds research material on Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the Southwest, with resources for the Territorial and Statehood eras. Its subjects run from history and language to ghosts and aliens. Nothing leaves the building, so make an appointment and request materials ahead. The Center for the Book is here, and the library is closed Sundays and Mondays.

Zimmerman is UNM's humanities and social sciences library and the home of the Indigenous Nations Library Program. Visitors check in at the desk with a government- or school-issued photo ID and can use the collections in the building. A Community Borrower Card, for an annual fee, lets non-affiliates borrow up to 15 items for 30 days.

Writers working on the Southwest should start at UNM's archives. The Tony Hillerman Portal puts his manuscripts, screenplays, and papers online, and research guides cover subjects from land grants and water to African Americans in New Mexico. Request materials online for the Anderson Reading Room.

The NHCC Library occupies a 1937 WPA adobe schoolhouse, the first building of the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Its holdings include transcribed baptismal, marriage, and death records from the 1700s, along with bilingual books and zines. JSTOR and Ancestry Library Edition are available on site. It opens Tuesdays and Thursdays or by appointment.

Bookworks has sold new books in Albuquerque since 1984. Its readings bring in local, regional, and nationally known authors, and it produces the A Word with Writers series with partners. There are book clubs, too.

Deborah Condit owns Books on the Bosque, the Westside's independent bookstore. It sells new and used books, including local authors and books about New Mexico, and sets aside quiet spaces for reading or study. Local authors can submit their books through the store's Local Author page.

The Brewer family owns Organic Books, which sells new and used books and takes local authors' books on consignment. It also stocks D&D books and dice. The store is open daily.

Quirky carries more than 24,000 used titles in every genre, along with local art and records, in a converted eyeglass factory. Groups can reserve the store for a book club or a workshop through its events form.

Vellum & Vine is a romance and fantasy bookshop with a café, and its shelves are organized by subgenre and trope. It hosts author signings and release nights.

Flying Star is an Albuquerque bakery and café with six locations, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner all day and into the night. Wi-Fi is free. The Nob Hill café has a Campus Perks offer for UNM and CNM students and faculty.

Satellite's Harvard café, on Central in Nob Hill, is the only one of its six Albuquerque coffee shops with the Campus Brew Pass for UNM and CNM students and faculty.

Snapdragon is a casual teahouse serving tea and coffee with kolaches and other pastries. Visit Albuquerque recommends it as a cozy café to work from. It opens Tuesday through Sunday.

Lost Cultures is a non-alcoholic tea bar in a bright room with large windows and wooden tables. It serves tea and mocktails, and Visit Albuquerque calls it a chill, modern space that makes it easy to focus.

Cutbow is a little roastery, tasting room, and coffee bar just north of Historic Old Town. It keeps daytime hours and closes Mondays.

Frontier is a Route 66 restaurant on Central, across from UNM. It has been open since 1971, and it serves seven days a week from early morning until midnight.

Indian Pueblo Kitchen is the restaurant of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, which also houses a museum and cultural programs. The center is open daily.

La Fonda del Bosque is the restaurant on the National Hispanic Cultural Center campus, which also holds the center's library and archives. It serves lunch Tuesday through Friday and dinner on Fridays. Plan a meal around one of the center's readings or lectures.

SouthWest Writers is a nonprofit for published and unpublished writers in every fiction and nonfiction genre. It holds two meetings a month, each with a talk on some part of writing: one at the UNM Continuing Education Building and on Zoom, the other on Zoom alone. Members get the Sage newsletter. The group also runs workshops and an annual writing contest and anthology.

New Mexico Writers is a statewide nonprofit, founded in 2016 and based in Albuquerque, that connects writers across New Mexico and the greater Navajo Nation. Its monthly newsletter, The New Mexico Writer, rounds up readings and grant opportunities. It also runs a grant program and the New Mexico Book Awards.

The New Mexico State Poetry Society has promoted poetry across the state since 1969. Its chapters meet on Zoom, and members contribute to its anthology, Cadence! The society keeps a statewide calendar of poetry events, and anyone can submit one.

The center's History & Literary Arts program presents author readings and writing workshops. Its archive is open to researchers by appointment.

The institute links more than 100 UNM faculty in Latin American Studies and funds their field research and conference travel. Visiting researchers who come for UNM's Latin American library collections can affiliate with it. It also runs the Greenleaf Visiting Library Scholar program.

Researchers can apply for the center's research fellowships, and its protocols govern the use of Native American archival materials. Its site also links to New Mexico Archives Online, which gathers finding aids from 19 repositories around the state, and to New Mexico Digital Collections.

The repository makes work by UNM faculty and students free for anyone to read. Theses and dissertations are there, along with open access journals.

The University of New Mexico Press publishes scholarly books in archaeology and anthropology, Latin American and Native studies, and Western and borderlands history. Literature, poetry, and environmental studies are on the list as well, along with general-interest books on New Mexico and the region. It also publishes under the High Road Books imprint.

Wicazo Sa Review, founded in 1985, publishes articles, essays, interviews, and reviews in Native American Studies, with a focus on decolonization and Indigenous survival. Its editor, Lloyd L. Lee, is in Native American Studies at UNM, and the University of Minnesota Press publishes it. Preparing an article for Wicazo Sa Review

The Journal of Anthropological Research began in 1945 as the successor to the New Mexico Anthropologist and publishes peer-reviewed articles for anthropologists of every specialty. Suzanne Oakdale edits it in UNM's Department of Anthropology, and the University of Chicago Press publishes it. Preparing an article for Journal of Anthropological Research

Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency publishes empirical research on crime, violence, victimization, criminalization, and criminal-legal system responses, drawing on criminology, sociology, psychology, economics, geography, and political science. It is co-edited at the University of New Mexico and the University of Colorado Denver and published by SAGE. Preparing an article for Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency

New Mexico Writers gives annual grants to writers across the state and the greater Navajo Nation, in prose, poetry, journalism, and writing for stage and screen. A grant can pay for new work, research travel, or time to write. The Preston Young Writers Grant is for writers aged 18 to 25.

The New Mexico Book Awards run each year in more than forty categories, from fiction and poetry to cover design. Authors, designers, and publishers of print books with a direct creative connection to New Mexico or the greater Navajo Nation can enter.

New Mexico Arts and the New Mexico State Library appoint the state poet laureate to a three-year term. The laureate leads statewide poetry initiatives and gives readings and workshops.

A selection committee chooses the city's poet laureate, a resident poet, from competitive applications. The laureate shares poetry with Albuquerque and carries out a community project.

Governor Bruce King and First Lady Alice King established these awards in 1974. Past honorees include writers and poets. Nominations come from New Mexico residents.

Our sister site's guide for UNM students gathers grants and writing resources in one place.

Risolana opened in 2021 to give New Mexico a risograph studio open to the public. It sits in the front casita of Partnership for Community Action's Social Enterprise Center; enter through the back door. The studio prints by quote and runs community workshops. Open studio hours are on Fridays.

Next Chapter is a risograph studio, open since 2018, that prints cards and stationery. It takes custom printing inquiries and teaches in-person workshops.

This Minuteman Press shop lists books, booklets, and yearbooks among its products. Call to ask about binding for a short run of books or thesis copies.