A Writer's Guide to Claremont

Claremont's county branch library has three small study rooms, for one or two people, and a meeting room that holds up to 67. Writers researching the town can read the Claremont Courier on microfilm and scan pages from the reader. The branch is closed Sundays and Mondays.

The shared library of the seven Claremont Colleges admits visitors who check in with photo ID at the Main or North Services Desk. A free Community Access Card gives you ongoing entry, and a Community Borrower Card adds borrowing. Card access pauses during exam periods. The library also hosts a Silent Book Club.

Researchers from outside the Colleges register through the Other Researchers login and book a Reading Room appointment, then request materials at least 24 hours ahead. The holdings reach from Buddhist sutras and Chinese rare books in the Asian Library collections to War Relocation Authority records and the Hubert A. Lowman Photographic Archive of the American West. Anyone can book a research consultation. Only pencils are allowed in the reading room.

Denison, Scripps College's special collections library, centers on the history of printing and the book and on women and gender. Artists' books and the Scripps College Press Archive are here, and so is the Ida Rust Macpherson Collection, by and about women. Outside researchers write at least 24 hours ahead, by email or through an Aeon account. The library is open weekdays.

Upland's city library is about five miles east of Claremont. Its Storytellers Writer's Club, for adults 18 and up, meets on the first and third Wednesday evenings of each month. There is a Local History section, too. The library is closed Sundays.

The Forum Bookshop is a nonprofit used bookstore in the Packing House, and its sales support the Prison Library Project. It also sells cards and journals. The shop is open Wednesday through Sunday.

Sisters Liana Colon and Lolli Rigor opened TBR Books in Claremont in April 2026. The shelves lean toward romance, with science fiction, YA, and children's books among the other sections.

Café con Libros is a small nonprofit bookstore in downtown Pomona, about four miles south of Claremont. It carries books by and about people of color, with an emphasis on Latino literature, and keeps a small lending library in back. Its open mic nights welcome poetry and storytelling.

Newsboy began in 1957 as Ontario Newsstand, and it still sells current magazines and newspapers beside an eclectic stock of mostly new books. The shop is in downtown Ontario, about seven miles southeast of Claremont. It is closed Sundays.

Johnson deals in rare books and archives from downtown Covina, about 12 miles west of Claremont. It also buys books and libraries, along with original letters and diaries. The shop is open Thursday through Saturday; call ahead for an appointment.

Iron & Kin started out roasting coffee in a garage. Its café shares the Packing House with the Forum Bookshop and is open daily.

Visitors need no library card for the café, Sanctuary Coffee, or for the Huntley Bookstore beside it on the library's first floor. Check in with photo ID to go on into the rest of the building.

The Packing House in Claremont Village was once the College Heights Orange & Lemon Association plant. More than 20 places to eat and drink share it with the Forum Bookshop and Studio Claremont, an art studio and gallery. Artists sell their work in the atrium, and the building hosts art walks and live music.

Five local poets run this free monthly reading series at the Claremont Library, usually on the fourth Saturday afternoon, with support from the Friends of the Claremont Helen Renwick Library. Poets can apply to be featured readers. Once a year, the Poets About Town open mic welcomes readers of all ages and abilities.

Pomona College's English Department brings poets and novelists to campus for readings and talks through the academic year. Most are held in the Ena Thompson Reading Room (Crookshank 108) or in Rose Hills Theatre. Some events are free and open to the public while others are for the Claremont Colleges community, so check each listing.

The Claremont Forum runs the Prison Library Project, which has answered book requests from incarcerated readers since 1973. Its bookshop at the Packing House hosts free book launches and signings.

Scripps College Press, founded in 1941, is the college's teaching press, and it publishes limited-edition artists' books and letterpress prints. Claremont Colleges students set the metal type by hand, then print and bind each book. The press archive is at Denison Library.

Inlandia Institute, in Riverside about 20 miles east, is the Inland Empire's literary arts nonprofit. It teaches creative writing workshops for adults and youth. Its imprint, Inlandia Books, publishes novels and poetry, and the institute also runs the online journal Inlandia: A Literary Journey.

Pomona College's Humanities Studio builds its programming around an annual theme. Its speaker series is public.

Scripps College has run its Humanities Institute since 1986. A Scripps faculty member leads each year's theme, and its lectures and conferences bring prominent and younger scholars to campus. Exhibitions and film series fill out the calendar.

The Claremont Colleges Library runs this site, which gives online access to published and unpublished work from the Colleges, theses and dissertations among them. It also publishes several journals.

California Humanities is the state's affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It funds public humanities projects through Connecting California grants and the California Documentary Project.

The Middle East Studies Association's journal covers the Middle East and adjacent regions from the seventh century to the present, in fields from anthropology and history to literature and religious studies. Its editorial office is at Scripps College, and its co-editors are at Scripps and Claremont McKenna College. Cambridge University Press publishes it. Preparing an article for the International Journal of Middle East Studies

Claremont Graduate University's School of Arts & Humanities houses two poetry book awards. The Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award goes to a book by a mid-career poet, and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award to a first book. Poets who are U.S. citizens or legal residents can submit their own published books of original poetry in English, or a publisher or agent can submit with the poet's consent.

The California Arts Council's fellowship recognizes artists in any art form at emerging, established, and legacy career stages. Regional organizations administer it. Los Angeles County residents, Claremont and Pomona included, apply through Los Angeles Performance Practice; Arts Orange County takes applications from San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

The Commonwealth Club gives these awards each year to books by authors living in California. Fiction and poetry are among the categories, along with nonfiction, young adult, and Californiana.

Inlandia Institute's poetry book prize has two categories. The national one is open to American writers, and the regional one is for poets who live or work in Inland Southern California. Inlandia Books publishes the winning collections.

This Inlandia prize takes manuscripts of fiction or creative nonfiction, memoir and essays included, from writers living in the U.S. who identify as Hispanic, Latino/a/e/x, or Chicana/o/x. Inlandia Books publishes the winner.

This page gathers grants and writing resources for Claremont Graduate University students.

University of La Verne students have a guide of their own.

Cal Poly Pomona has the same kind of guide.

Azusa Pacific University students can start here.

Cal State Fullerton students will find grants and campus writing resources on this page.

The UPS Store in University Village prints reports and presentations in black-and-white or color, and it binds and laminates them. Send your files as PDFs for the best match on quality and color. It is open seven days.