A Writer's Guide to Amsterdam

OBA Oosterdok is Amsterdam's main public library, and entry is free. It has more than 1,000 seats and Wi-Fi, and it keeps long hours. The 7th floor holds a theater and a restaurant with a terrace.

The University of Amsterdam's heritage collections are consulted here, at 40 study places. Requested works arrive at set delivery times through the day. You need a UvA/AUAS card or a valid external UvA library card, and the room is open weekdays.

The IISG holds more than 50 km of archives, publications and audiovisual material on labour, social and emancipatory movements. Anyone doing research may use the reading room. Sign in at the desk on your first visit of the year. The reading room is open Monday to Thursday.

The library is on the first floor of the VU Main Building, with places for focused study and for creative work. Seat availability is shown live online. Writers outside VU can take an external membership with valid ID, or join free with proof of an AdamNet membership bought through OBA.

Anyone researching the Rijksmuseum's collections may use this library. Create a library account and request material through the catalogue, then book a workspace before you come. It is open Monday to Saturday.

The American Book Center is a family-owned English-language bookstore, in Amsterdam since 1972. Most of its author events are free, and authors can ask to host a book event in the store.

Athenaeum carries about 25,000 titles, with literature in several languages and a large Classical Antiquity department. Its magazines come from around the world. The shop is open daily.

Perdu has been a poetry bookshop, publisher and stage since 1984. Its Perdu Avond evenings run in Dutch and English. The shop is open Wednesday to Sunday.

The Book Exchange has sold second-hand English-language books since 1978 and keeps more than 50,000 titles. Literature and the social sciences are its strongest sections. It buys used books on weekdays, for cash or store credit.

Artists run Boekie Woekie, which sells books by artists along with prints and multiples. Anyone making small-edition or handmade books should stop in. It is open daily.

Lambiek was founded in 1968 and bills itself as the oldest comic shop in the world. It moved from the Kerkstraat to the Nieuwmarkt in 2015. Book presentations and signings take place here, and there are drinks every Friday.

Henk Comics calls itself the largest comics and manga store in the Netherlands, and it is open daily. Artists come in for signings.

Architectura & Natura is a bookshop and press for architecture and urban design, gardens and nature. Email ahead for an out-of-print title. It is open Tuesday to Saturday.

Bijlmer Bookstore opened in 2019 as an Afro-centred independent bookstore. It stocks hard-to-find books by Black writers from Africa and the diaspora, and it gives Black writers space to promote their work. The showroom opens Wednesday, Friday and Saturday by appointment.

Café de Jaren is a large, light café-restaurant with high ceilings and a reading table. Its balcony and waterside terrace face the Amstel. It takes walk-ins only and is open daily.

CREA is the University of Amsterdam's cultural student centre, and its café has a living-room feel. It doubles as the foyer for performances and lectures. In summer you can sit by the water. The café is open weekdays.

Werkplaats is the Volkshotel's ground-floor café, and laptop work is welcome. Wi-Fi is free. So is the co-working space, which Amsterdammers share with hotel guests. Meeting cabins for 4 to 8 people can be booked.

Back to Black roasts its own coffee and bakes its own goods. The Weteringstraat bar is open daily and takes no reservations.

The second Back to Black is in West. It keeps the same daily hours.

Café Luxembourg is a grand café on the Spui, steps from Athenaeum and the American Book Center. It is open daily.

De Balie is a centre for debate, film, journalism and art, with programmes on current affairs and politics. It has a cinema and a café-restaurant. During IDFA it shows a selection of the festival's films.

Café Americain is an Art Deco grand café in the Clayton Hotel Amsterdam American, a short walk from De Balie. It serves breakfast and dinner, with an all-day menu in between.

The restaurant in the Eye Filmmuseum looks out over the IJ, and its lamps are by Olafur Eliasson. It serves lunch and dinner Tuesday to Sunday. Take the free ferry towards Buiksloterweg.

Perdu holds regular evening readings, the Perdu Avond, and keeps a programme archive and a podcast. Under the name Perdu Studie it runs writing and translation workshops.

The Auteursbond has been an association of professional writers and translators for more than 100 years, with sections for literary authors, children's authors, translators and theatre writers. Members get model contracts and collective fee agreements. They can also use a free workspace at the Van Deysselhuis on workdays.

The Schrijversvakschool has run a four-year part-time programme in professional authorship for forty years. Its shorter Dutch-language courses range from the short story and the novel to columns and narrative non-fiction. Almost all of them can be followed online.

The John Adams Institute is an independent platform for American culture and ideas, based in the West-Indisch Huis. It hosts talks with American writers and thinkers. Recorded lectures and the Bright Minds podcast are in its archive.

Read My World is an annual three-day festival of literature, poetry, art and music at the Tolhuistuin, with writers and performers from many countries. Past programmes have included a literary translation masterclass and a garden book market.

NIAS, an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, offers fellowships to scholars, artists, journalists and writers. Its individual fellowships are for scholars in the humanities and social sciences, from the Netherlands and abroad. English is the working language.

ASCA is the University of Amsterdam's research institute and doctoral school for the comparative and interdisciplinary study of culture. Its seminars and reading groups bring together staff, PhD candidates and research master's students. It also has a research fund and gives grant support.

Five of the University of Amsterdam's six humanities research schools make up AIHR. Its strategic funds help faculty researchers strengthen their CVs and write grant applications.

The Huygens Institute researches Dutch history and culture within the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. It digitises historical and literary sources and publishes them online for scholars and the public.

The Allard Pierson holds the University of Amsterdam's museum and heritage collections. Researchers can request loans and reproductions, and the collections are also online.

Elsevier publishes journals and books and describes itself as a provider of information and decision support for science and healthcare. Its corporate headquarters are in Amsterdam. Preparing a manuscript for Elsevier

Amsterdam University Press publishes research for a global scholarly community. Its English-language books and journals include the CEU Press imprint, and it also keeps a Dutch-language academic list and publishes open access.

De Bezige Bij was founded in 1944. It publishes Dutch and translated literary fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

The Dutch Foundation for Literature supports writers and translators and promotes Dutch literature abroad. Its grants go to writers, translators, publishers and festivals, and it helps Dutch and Frisian literature reach readers at home and abroad.

The Foundation runs this residency in a canal-side apartment overlooking the Spui. It is for authors from abroad whose work a Dutch literary publishing house has translated into Dutch. Authors may apply directly or be nominated by their publisher.

Translators of Dutch literature into any language can stay here while under contract for a new translation of a Dutch literary work. They must be on the Foundation's List of Approved Translators.

This writer-in-residence fellowship is for established mid-career or senior literary writers. Fellows get an office, research facilities and subsidised accommodation. Each round's call sets who may apply.

The Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst gives project grants to makers and organisations in every discipline, beginners included. Applicants live or work in Amsterdam or one of several nearby municipalities.

The fund's annual Amsterdamprijs goes to artists, organisations or art projects that make a distinctive contribution to art in the capital. It has three categories.

Editors For Students gathers grants and writing resources for University of Amsterdam students on this page.

Loogman's binds theses, repairs books, and makes custom books and blank notebooks in any size. It also sells bookbinding materials. The bindery is open weekdays, with evenings and weekends by appointment.

Raddraaier prints offset and digital in an environmentally friendly way, with prepress services. Its portfolio includes books and periodicals, among them a title from Best Verzorgde Boeken 2025.

Studio Vlinderboom is a risograph studio in Amsterdam that prints to order and runs beginner-friendly workshops of two to three hours. It also sells riso prints and zines.