A Writer's Guide to Birmingham

The Library of Birmingham lends books and has computers for public use. Its archive and rare-book holdings include a Shakespeare collection of more than 100,000 items. Archive research in the Wolfson Centre is by booked appointment. The main library opens Monday to Saturday.

Kings Heath Library is on the High Street, a short walk from the Heath Bookshop and How Brave is the Wren. It closes midweek and on Sundays.

The Main Library has nearly 2,000 seats over five floors, and postgraduate researchers have a suite of their own. Members of the public over 18 get free reference access for up to ten visits in twelve months. Bring original photo ID each time. Members of other UK and Irish universities can apply through SCONUL Access.

The Cadbury Research Library holds the university's Special Collections of rare books and manuscripts, including the Birmingham Qur'an. Archives and photographs are here too, with searchable catalogues. External researchers register for a reader's card on their first visit. Bring official ID with your name and address on it, such as a driving licence.

Curzon is Birmingham City University's city-centre library. The School of Art and the School of Jewellery have libraries of their own. Visiting academics join through SCONUL Access and then apply to BCU, allowing up to ten working days. Bring your library card and ID on every visit.

The Heath Bookshop serves hot and cold drinks, and you can sit with yours among the shelves. It hosts author events and a book club. The shop also puts on its own festival of literature and music.

Voce Books, at the Warehouse in Digbeth, specialises in translated fiction and experimental writing. Its ticketed book clubs include one for Italian books. Voce's Storie: Experiments in Prose evenings take place at Kilder, under Moor Street station.

The Ikon Shop is the art bookshop inside Ikon Gallery, with art books and artists' limited editions. Ikon is a charity, and purchases support its exhibitions and education programme. It is open Tuesday to Sunday.

How Brave is the Wren is a children's bookshop on York Road for picture books and illustrated stories. Some come from independent publishers. Book clubs and reading groups meet here, and the shop opens Wednesday to Sunday.

MyBookbasket stocks culturally diverse books, including books from across the African diaspora. Its adult book club is free and meets online and in person. Writers can look out for workshops such as Stepping Out Of The Margins: Black Women Reading & Writing Creatively.

Court 15 Books is the National Trust's second-hand bookshop at the Birmingham Back to Backs. Local history titles sit beside fiction. Sales go toward the care of the Back to Backs buildings.

200 Degrees on Colmore Row is a large coffee shop with about 90 seats on the ground floor and free Wi-Fi. Student guides recommend it for long work sessions.

Wayland's Yard is a café for all-day brunch and speciality coffee, a three-minute walk from Snow Hill station. Breakfast is served every day.

Faculty Coffee is a small coffee and tea shop in Piccadilly Arcade on New Street. Student guides suggest it when you want a calmer place to study. It opens daily.

Medicine Bakery is a local bakery with a café on New Street, serving brunch and lunch daily. Student guides list it among Birmingham's places to work.

Medicine Bakery runs the café at Ikon Gallery, serving brunch and pastries with coffee or tea. Cocktails are served on the terrace. Browse the Ikon Shop's art books on your way out.

KILN is the café at Midlands Arts Centre in Cannon Hill Park. It opens daily, with lunch through the week and roasts on Sunday. The MAC Bar, beside the cinema and main theatre, serves before and after shows.

Kilder is a bar in the railway arches beneath Moor Street station, pouring craft beer and natural wine. Voce Books holds its Storie: Experiments in Prose readings here. Kilder opens Wednesday to Sunday.

Writing West Midlands is the region's literature development agency. It teaches short courses and workshops, live and online. Writers can join its regional meet-ups or sign up for a monthly e-newsletter of competitions and mentoring schemes. Young writers have Spark groups across the region.

The festival calls itself the biggest literature festival in the West Midlands. Writing West Midlands runs it, bringing writers and speakers from the UK and abroad to partner venues across the city and online. Bursaries and access support are available.

VERVE Poetry Press produces this poetry and spoken word festival, held over five days each year at Birmingham venues and online. Between festivals there are monthly open mic nights and workshops with established poets. New writers can join the year-long Poetry Collective.

The Birmingham and Midland Institute is a charity in a Grade II* listed building on Margaret Street. Its library holds over 120,000 books. Writing West Midlands is among the societies associated with the Institute.

The Institute for Advanced Studies funds interdisciplinary research at the University of Birmingham. Its fellowships bring researchers to campus for four to eight weeks to build collaborations with Birmingham colleagues. IAS Workshops fund research planning that draws on at least two of the university's colleges.

The Shakespeare Institute is the University of Birmingham's centre for Shakespeare and Renaissance studies, based at Mason Croft in Stratford-upon-Avon. Academic visitors get workspace and full use of the library, and they are invited to the weekly research seminar. The library holds over 60,000 volumes on Shakespeare and Renaissance drama, with archives and manuscripts besides.

The Emma Press is an independent publisher in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. It publishes poetry pamphlets and books. Its list also takes in short fiction and translations.

VERVE Poetry Press publishes poetry collections and anthologies, with a focus on bringing poets from Birmingham and the wider Midlands to print and to the stage. It also produces VERVE Poetry Festival.

International Affairs publishes scholarship on global affairs and international relations, theoretically grounded and oriented to policy. Its Editors-in-Chief, Rita Floyd and Asaf Siniver, are at the University of Birmingham. Chatham House in London manages the journal, and Oxford University Press publishes it. Preparing an article for International Affairs

Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations publishes refereed work on the religion and culture of Islam, historical and contemporary, and on Christian–Muslim relations. Its home is the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham, where Senior Editor David Thomas is Emeritus Professor of Christianity and Islam. Preparing an article for Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations

Room 204 is Writing West Midlands' development programme for writers in the region, in any genre. Each cohort gets mentoring and critiques of their work. Peer support and industry networking come with it.

Writing West Midlands and Birmingham Libraries appoint the Birmingham Poet Laureate together. The laureate writes poems for significant moments in the city and shares them at events. Adults who live or work in Birmingham are eligible, and so are students there. A Young Poet Laureate role is for 12- to 17-year-olds.

Arts Council England's Project Grants fund arts and library projects, and individual practitioners can apply as well as organisations. Applicants who need help with the application can ask for support.

The Royal Literary Fund gives grants to professional writers who need financial support, for example after a drop in income or a change in circumstances. Its Fellowships place writers in over 100 UK universities, where they help students develop their academic writing.

This page gathers grants and writing resources for University of Birmingham students.

University of Warwick students, in nearby Coventry, have a page of their own.

Birmingham Printmakers is an artist-led membership organisation with open-access printmaking facilities. Members have access around the clock. Day passes are sold on its site, and one-day workshops cover screen printing and photopolymer etching.

Stirchley Printworks is a print studio about two minutes' walk from Bournville station. Key-holding members can use its screen beds and presses, an Albion among them. Regular workshops teach screenprinting and lino printing.

Mail Boxes Etc. on Pinfold Street binds dissertations and theses in store, including hardbacks with gold-foil lettering. It also prints books and booklets. The shop opens weekdays.