A Writer's Guide to Appleton

Appleton Public Library is open daily. Its six two-person study rooms can be reserved seven days ahead for up to two hours, and five conference rooms seat groups of 4 to 30. Two Creation Studios have podcast recording and editing equipment and Adobe design and video software.

Mudd is Lawrence University's library. Its University Archives hold the history of Lawrence and Milwaukee-Downer College, including oral histories and The Lawrentian, and researchers from the wider community can use them by appointment. Fill out the guest access form before you go.

The Castle's research collections center on Appleton, with about 800 cubic feet of manuscripts and more than a million photographs. Its strengths include Houdini and Edna Ferber, along with Joseph McCarthy and John Bradley. Research is by appointment only and carries a fee. Submit your topic through the online form at least a week ahead, or ask staff to do the research for you.

Kaukauna's public library, about 8 miles northeast of downtown Appleton, keeps a local history section with a Kaukauna newspaper index and the Kaukauna Memory Project. Request a meeting room through the online form. The library is closed Sundays.

The Book Store is independently owned and has been open since 1977. Its tens of thousands of titles are mostly used, with out-of-print books among them, and it also stocks popular new releases and runs a trade program for heavy readers. It holds a craft night once a month.

The Tardigrade's Bookshelf is a bookbar with a science-minded collection and a sober-ish drink menu that runs from tea and mocktails to beer and mead. It hosts book clubs and the Foxy Writer's Club. Arkana Books keeps the fantasy shelves here, and the two run a fantasy book club on the second Wednesday of each month. It is closed Sundays and Mondays.

Thomas A. Lyons is a bookstore in historic downtown Neenah, with new titles from fiction and history to children's books. It also sells used and rare books. Look here for collectible modern first editions of poetry and short stories.

Author Apothecary opened in June 2026. Its owner, Felicia Clark, is a poet who publishes through her own small press, and the store pairs books by mood in its Reader Remedy Bundles. It also runs workshops and classes. The store is closed Mondays.

il Bar opened in July 2024 next door to the History Museum at the Castle, near Lawrence University. It keeps daytime hours and is closed Sundays.

ACOCA is a downtown café and roastery. Poetry Unlocked has held poetry open mics here on Monday evenings.

The Drinkery is the café inside the Trout Museum of Art. It serves coffee and drinks with veggie-forward dishes. Admission to the museum is free, and it is open seven days a week.

The Wisconsin Writers Association has served the state's writers since 1948 with virtual critique classes and a fall conference. Its directory lists two groups south of Appleton. The SMITHworks Writing Group meets monthly at Elisha D. Smith Public Library in Menasha and welcomes storytellers of any experience level, and the Oshkosh Area Writers Club holds free critique meetings twice a month for writers 17 and up.

The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, founded in 1951, offers free Zoom workshops and an annual conference that its regions take turns hosting. It publishes the Wisconsin Poets' Calendar each year and Bramble, its literary magazine. Members can apply for small grants. Membership is open to residents and former residents of Wisconsin and neighboring states.

Wisconsin Humanities works across all 72 of the state's counties. Its matching grants support locally designed cultural and civic programs. Public programs include Wisconsin Life and Odyssey Beyond Bars.

The Wisconsin Academy presents public talks, some with partner organizations such as Mead Public Library. It publishes Wisconsin People & Ideas, which runs a fiction and poetry contest. It also runs the James Watrous Gallery at Overture Center for the Arts in Madison.

University of Hawai'i Press publishes the Journal of Korean Religions and describes it as the only English-language academic journal dedicated to the study of Korean religions. It takes peer-reviewed work from fields running from philosophy and literature to anthropology. Its managing editor is at Lawrence University. Preparing an article for the Journal of Korean Religions

The Wisconsin Writers Awards honor Wisconsin writers each year in book and short-form categories. The Council for Wisconsin Writers began them in 1964, and Arts + Literature Laboratory in Madison has run them since 2022. Winners and honorable mentions receive residencies with Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts and Ernest Hüpeden's Painted Forest.

The Wisconsin Library Association honors books by authors who were born in Wisconsin, live there, or lived there for a significant time. Besides the WLA Literary Award, it gives the Elizabeth Burr Award for children's and young adult books.

The Jade Ring Contest takes original, unpublished prose and poetry from writers 18 and older, members or not. First-place winners get a jade ring and a one-week residency at Write On, Door County. Placing work appears in Creative Wisconsin magazine.

This fellowship is for emerging Wisconsin poets who meet two of three conditions: no full-length poetry book, age 18 to 45, and no MFA or PhD in poetry or creative writing. The fellow gets a residency at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point, along with WFOP mentorship and membership. In return, the fellow leads a public program such as a workshop or reading.