A Writer's Guide to Canberra

The Main Reading Room holds the general collection. Special collections are read in their own room, and the Petherick Reading Room serves readers doing advanced research. It is a reference library, so everything you request is read on site. Australian residents get a library login free, and overseas visitors can apply shortly before they travel. Collect a physical card from reading room staff with ID.

The Noel Butlin Archives Centre holds the records of Australian companies, trade unions and professional associations. ANU Archives also keeps the Pacific Research Archives and the National AIDS Archive, along with the University Archives. Members of the public can use them. You don't need an appointment, but the Archives asks that you contact them first.

Woden Library has a quiet study and reading area called The Haven. The Hive, its digital hub, has a recording studio and podcasting gear, and community groups can book The Gathering Space or one of two ground-floor meeting rooms. It opens Saturdays.

Dickson Library is in the Dickson Shopping Centre. It has a community room and opens on Saturdays.

Kingston Library, on Giles Street, opens Tuesday to Saturday. Saturday is a full day.

Paperchain is a family-run bookshop that has traded in Canberra since 1982, and it calls itself one of the ACT's oldest independent booksellers. More than 20,000 titles are in stock or online. Local and Australian authors get launches and author events here.

The Book Cow is a Kingston bookshop with local authors on its shelves. It hosts author talks and launches, among them a Sunday Afternoon Crime series.

Book Lore has bought and sold quality used books for more than 40 years, with literature, non-fiction and children's books its strengths. It also deals in antiquarian titles. Ask, and the owner will try to source a book for you. Tilley's is on the same street.

Laura and Luke Canty run this mainly secondhand bookshop, which Luke's parents founded. The range is broad. Expect some rare finds.

Pulp is a bookshop and a licensed bistro café in one, serving meals all day, seven days a week. Upstairs, The Manor hosts meetings and workshops.

Lifeline Canberra restocks its secondhand bookshop daily, with puzzles and DVDs among the books, and the money raised funds Lifeline's crisis support line. It is open Thursday to Sunday.

Once a month, MARION gathers writers for two hours of work on their own projects. A short check-in comes first, then focused writing. The free session runs on a Saturday at midday and alternates between Smith's Alternative, 76 Alinga Street, and the Tuggeranong Arts Centre, 137 Reed Street. RSVP through Humanitix.

Barrio Collective roasts its own coffee and runs this neighbourhood coffee bar on Lonsdale Street.

Two Before Ten, which has its own roastery, runs this café at the base of the ACT Government's Environment Directorate building. It is open weekdays.

Lonsdale Street Roasters runs a café at its Dairy Road roastery. It is open weekdays and closed on public holidays.

The National Library's café sits among Leonard French's stained-glass windows, and its Ex Libris terrace looks over Lake Burley Griffin and the Patrick White Lawns. Bookplate is open daily and runs its own events program; reserve a table online. Downstairs, Paperplate serves salads and sandwiches on weekdays.

Smith's Alternative is a café and bar that also stages gigs and exhibitions, and it has its own hall, McGregor Hall. It opens at midday every day. MARION's Come Write sessions meet here.

Tilley's has been in Lyneham since 1984. It is a café and art gallery that also stages concerts, and on Saturday evenings local jazz players give free sets. Book Lore is on the same street.

Mocan & Green Grout also builds bikes under the Goodspeed Bicycle Co name. The room mixes reclaimed materials with work by local makers, and local artists are regularly invited to reimagine it. Breakfast and lunch are served daily, with dinner Tuesday to Saturday.

MARION calls itself the leading organisation for writing in the ACT region, and writers can join. Its programs include the Come Write meet-ups and PROOF, a publishing program. Reading strands cover adults, children and young adults. Check its journal and calendar for local literary events.

The festival bills itself as Canberra's biggest literary event, and it comes round each October. More than 100 authors take part in its panels and masterclasses. Author events continue through the rest of the year.

Poets read at That Poetry Thing on Monday nights at Smith's Alternative. The venue also hosts Canberra Multilingual Poetry and book launches, between its music and comedy nights.

The HRC hosts visiting fellows and sets a research theme each year. It runs public lectures and a distinguished lecture series. Conferences and work-in-progress morning teas round out the program, and the centre publishes the journal Humanities Research.

Experienced researchers in a range of fields can apply for a funded fellowship to do sustained work with the National Library's collections. Fellows get support from expert staff. The work should move toward publication or another public outcome.

The Australian Academy of the Humanities has its office in Dickson. Scholars can apply to its Publication Subsidy Scheme and its Humanities Travelling Fellowships. It also awards the Max Crawford Medal and the Medal for Excellence in Translation.

The centre works where culture and creativity meet and produces both scholarship and art. Its research strands include arts and health and First Nations collaborative research.

ANU Press describes itself as Australia's first open-access university press. Its peer-reviewed books and journals range from Asia and Pacific studies and Australian politics to Indigenous studies and the sciences.

Recent Work Press is a small press, founded in 2015 and based in the ACT. It publishes mainly poetry and other short-form writing by Australian and international authors.

The National Library's publishing arm makes nonfiction and children's books that draw on the Library's collections. History and art are among its subjects.

Current Anthropology, sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation and published by the University of Chicago Press, brings archaeology and biological, linguistic and sociocultural anthropology into dialogue. Its major articles run with invited commentary and author replies. Co-editors Caroline Schuster and Catherine J. Frieman are at the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology. Preparing an article for Current Anthropology

Development in Practice publishes practice-focused development research, on themes from gender and Indigenous development to migration and peacebuilding. Its chief editor, Patrick Kilby, is at UNSW Canberra. The Development Studies Association of Australia edits the journal. Preparing an article for Development in Practice

The ACT Government runs this award through artsACT, and an independent panel judges it. Fiction, non-fiction and poetry are eligible, including books for children and young adults. Authors must live in the ACT or show a strong current ACT-based arts practice.

This ACT Government program funds projects by Canberra artists and groups, and literature is among the eligible artforms. It supports new work and professional development. Mentoring and residencies qualify too.

Practising Australian writers can apply to research at the National Library in Canberra and develop a new creative work from its collections. The Ray Mathew and Eva Kollsman Trust supports the fellowship.

Creative Australia's national grants are open to practising artists and arts professionals who are Australian citizens or permanent residents. A literature panel assesses applications, and publishing activity can be funded.

This Editors For Students page covers ANU research travel grants, along with thesis writing support and student journals.

Megalo is an access printmaking studio, founded in 1980 and in heritage premises in Kingston since 2013. Members get access to the full range of print disciplines, screenprint and lithography among them. It also runs classes and workshops.

ICP offers a full range of printing services, and its digital printing turns jobs around fast, whether you need 10 copies or 10,000. Booklets and reports can be perfect bound or saddle-stitched. It is open weekdays.