A Writer's Guide to Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia's literary life runs through the University of South Carolina, where the South Caroliniana Library keeps the state's manuscripts and the USC Press publishes books on South Carolina and the South. Downtown, the South Carolina State Library is home to the state's Center for the Book, and Read Freely Fest comes to Richland Library Main each spring. In Five Points, All Good Books hosts launches and author talks. Poets and novelists work in the same reading rooms as faculty turning a dissertation into a book.
Libraries · Bookstores · Places to Write · Places to Eat · Writing Community · Press · Journals · Awards and Grants · When the Manuscript Is Ready
Libraries
Both university collections work by appointment, so send your request list well before the visit.
South Caroliniana holds manuscripts and visual materials on South Carolina, and the university counts its Southern manuscript collection among the largest in the nation. The public works by appointment in the Charles W. Joyner Reading Room, open Tuesday through Friday and the first Saturday of each month. Send your list of items at least three weekdays ahead.
The Irvin Department's holdings run from early medieval manuscripts to modern literature. Every visit is by appointment: register with the department and request items ahead of time for the Smith Reading Room, which opens Monday through Thursday. Researchers from outside the university should get in touch before coming.
The State Library is open weekdays, except state holidays. Cardholders can borrow circulating materials and use interlibrary loan, and a reference librarian will meet with them one-on-one online by appointment.
Independent Bookstores
Go to All Good Books for new titles and readings. For used and out-of-print books, try the other two.
All Good Books is a community-driven independent store selling new books, with a drink bar that pours coffee, beer, and wine. It hosts author talks and book launches. Saturdays bring a children's storytime.
Ed's Editions is a family-run shop for used and out-of-print books, and it belongs to the ABAA and ILAB. Regional history and genealogy feature in its stock. It is closed Sundays and Mondays.
The Book Dispensary sells used books and is open daily. Bring paperbacks and hardbacks to trade in, or use its search service to find an out-of-print or collectible title.
Places to Write
Both cafés open every day.
Drip is a Five Points coffee shop that stays open from early morning into the evening.
Methodical's BullStreet café runs over two stories, with a bright coffee bar and a cozy upstairs. Need privacy? Its quiet library room can be rented for events or a retreat.
Places to Eat
Motor Supply has been a local favorite since 1989 and was one of the first restaurants to open in the historic Congaree Vista. As a Jasper Project gallery venue, it hangs three-month solo shows by local artists in the dining room. Dinner is served nightly, with brunch Friday through Sunday.
Writing Community
Literary Organizations
The university's readings and Read Freely Fest are free, so check their calendars each season.
The Department of English Language and Literature brings writers to campus every year, and the talks are free and open to the public. Open Book runs in the spring. The Fall Literary Festival, sponsored with the USC Libraries, presents three or four authors on successive autumn Wednesdays, and Shark's Parlor pairs visiting writers with MFA students, alumni, and faculty. Marilynne Robinson and Michael Ondaatje have been guests.
Read Freely Fest is a free book festival held each spring at Richland Library Main. Expect author talks and panels with fresh voices, plus a book sale and tables for exhibitors and indie authors. Zinesters can apply to take part.
The State Library is home to South Carolina's affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book. Its Speaker at the Center series features South Carolina writers, and past talks are on YouTube. The center also runs the South Carolina Literary Landmarks plaques and map and picks the state's Great Reads from Great Places book for the National Book Festival.
The Jasper Project is a Columbia arts nonprofit that publishes Jasper Magazine in print and online. Fall Lines, its literary journal, takes poetry and prose and is presented with Richland Library and One Columbia. Other projects include Jasper Writes and Poetry of the People.
Columbia Writers Alliance is a nonprofit, founded in 2002, for published and aspiring writers of all ages, playwrights and screenwriters among them. It runs literary workshops and peer review and holds the Columbia Writers Gathering. It also publishes CWA Vibes magazine.
For Faculty and Researchers
Writing about South Carolina? Start with the Institute for Southern Studies and its online encyclopedia.
The institute brings USC faculty from many disciplines together to study the American South. Anyone can read its Digital South Carolina Encyclopedia or listen to its Take on the South podcast. It also hosts the Neuffer Lecture in Southern Literature and produces The Papers of William Short.
Scholar Commons is the USC Libraries' institutional repository for the university's research. Browse it for faculty articles and books, master's theses and open-access dissertations, or the journals and peer-reviewed series it hosts.
SC Humanities is the state humanities council, based in Columbia. Groups can request a South Carolina scholar for a talk through its Speakers Bureau. The council also holds the annual SC Humanities Festival and sends traveling exhibits around the state.
A Press in Columbia
Read a few recent titles from the press before you send it anything.
The University of South Carolina Press publishes peer-reviewed books on the history and culture of South Carolina and the American South, from Gullah Geechee studies to memoir. Its Carolina Currents series covers South Carolina culture. The press also runs the Open Carolina program.
Journals Edited in Columbia
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We will ensure that the final draft you receive from us is completely ready to publish or submit. We work with you until it is ready or refund your payment in full.
Read each journal's author guidelines and a recent issue before you shape an article for it.
Race and Justice is a quarterly international journal on race, ethnicity, and justice, sponsored by the American Society of Criminology's Division on People of Color and Crime. Its editor, Deena Isom, is at the University of South Carolina. Preparing an article for Race and Justice
TechTrends is published for the Association for Educational Communications & Technology and serves professionals in educational communication and technology. The journal's editor is based at the University of South Carolina. Preparing an article for TechTrends
The Journal of Child and Family Studies publishes applied and translational research, reviews, brief reports, and commentaries on the behavioral health and well-being of children, adolescents, and their families, taking an interdisciplinary, ecological approach to individual, family, and community contexts. It is edited at the University of South Carolina and published by Springer. Preparing an article for Journal of Child and Family Studies
Awards, Grants, and Fellowships
For South Carolina Writers
Most of these programs are for South Carolina residents, so read the eligibility rules first.
The South Carolina Arts Commission counts these fellowships among its signature programs. Fellows receive money so they can focus on making new work. The categories rotate from year to year, and the literary ones have included poetry and prose.
Emerging Artists grants pair project funding with mentorship for South Carolina artists who have been active one to five years and have a limited publishing record. Artists of any age qualify. Writers have received grants in its poetry and prose category.
Every two years, the South Carolina Novel Series picks a novel by a South Carolina writer, and Hub City Press publishes it. Writers at any career stage who have lived in the state for at least a year can enter, and the novel can be set anywhere.
One Columbia, a local arts nonprofit, gives unrestricted grants funded by local artists. Adults with an active creative practice in the 12-county Midlands region can apply. Literary artists qualify, emerging or established.
The City of Columbia created this four-year post in 2014, and One Columbia administers it. The laureate gives readings and workshops and brings poems into public spaces.
SC Humanities gives these honors each year. The Governor's Awards in the Humanities go to individuals and organizations for achievement in humanities research and teaching. The Akers Prize and the McMeekin Award are part of the same program.
For Students and Researchers
Students can find scholarships and campus writing prizes on our sister site, Editors For Students.
Our sister site gathers grants and writing resources for University of South Carolina students on one page.
When the Manuscript Is Ready
Off the Grid Editing has edited books and scholarship since 2002.
Publishing Scholarship
For a monograph, an edited collection, or a revised dissertation headed to a university press: dissertation to book editing, our guides to academic press requirements, English language editing for researchers, and journal article editing.
Publishing Fiction, Memoir, and Poetry
For a novel, a story collection, a memoir, or a book of poems: fiction and creative nonfiction editing, memoir and biography editing, developmental editing, and our guides to trade and literary publishers.
Every manuscript can also go through copy editing, line editing, or proofreading. The book editing services page compares all four levels.
- Tracking Source Material: Best Practices for Archival Citations in History and Humanities
- Crafting a Book Proposal That Academic Publishers Cannot Ignore
- De-Dissertationizing Your Prose: Stripping Away Academic Language for a Broader Audience
- Condensing 200 Pages Into 25: Strategies for Extracting a Journal Article from a Dissertation
- Writing for the Peer Reviewer: Anticipating and Addressing Methodological Criticisms
Compiled by James Peterson Brown, PhD, Off the Grid Editing. Places and links checked November 2026.
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