A Writer's Guide to Dallas–Fort Worth: Libraries, Bookstores, Writing Groups, and Presses

Central keeps Dallas History & Archives on the seventh floor and Literature, Language & Religion on the third. The library's special collections include a 1623 Shakespeare First Folio and the Siddie Joe Johnson Historical Children's Literature Collection. It also has meeting rooms and Creative Spaces workrooms. Closed Mondays.

DeGolyer holds SMU's rare books, maps, photographs, and archives. Visiting scholars and other researchers can use them. Email degolyer@smu.edu for an appointment.

Bridwell is SMU's library for theology and religious studies, and SMU counts its theological holdings among the largest in the country. It also runs Bridwell Press and the DeGolyer Bookbinding Competition. Visitors should read the Guest & Alumni Services page first.

UNT's Special Collections hold rare books, oral histories, historical manuscripts, and the university archives. The public can use them. The research room is on the library's fourth floor.

The Downtown Express Library opened in March 2024 in the former City Hall. For local history, go to the Fort Worth History Center on East Bolt Street, which serves as the city's municipal archives.

Interabang is a locally owned general bookstore near University Park. It runs fiction and nonfiction book clubs and keeps a full calendar of author events.

This is the retail store of Deep Vellum, the nonprofit press that calls itself the largest publisher of literature in translation in the United States. Every Deep Vellum title is on the shelves, next to a selection of literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The store hosts events and book clubs and is open daily.

Claudia Vega founded Whose Books as Oak Cliff's first independent Latina-owned family bookstore, to put books within reach of readers in southern Dallas. It stocks books for the whole family, hosts author events and story times, and runs the Taboo Talk Book Club.

Pan-African Connection is a Black-owned bookstore specializing in African and African American history and culture. It also sells African art and fabrics. A drum circle meets on Sundays. Closed Mondays.

The Dock is an African American-owned bookstore that opened in 2008 and sells new and used books. Bring something to read at the weekly Tuesday open mic. The store is the official bookseller for the Trinity River Book Festival and Literary SoulFest.

Recluse opened in 2025 with new and used books, small-press and translated literature, and zines. It holds lo-fi open mic nights and weekly themed book clubs.

Shelley Lowe opened Monkey and Dog as a children's bookstore, and it now carries middle grade, YA, and adult books too. Writers for young readers can see what is on the shelves now and come back for author readings.

Recycled has sold used and rare books in Denton since 1983, from three floors of the historic Wright Opera House on the square. It calls itself the largest used and rare bookstore in Texas. Records and CDs fill part of the store. Open daily.

Barber's was founded in 1925 and describes itself as the oldest bookstore in Texas. Its rare and used stock runs to Texana, military and Civil War history, and art. Hours are short, so make an appointment to see books in person.

Wayward's Design District café has plenty of plants and daylight. Seating runs from a wraparound bar and communal tables to couches and two-tops. Book the community room for a group. A second shop is on West Davis Street in Oak Cliff.

Union is a community coffee shop with rooms you can reserve for meetings and events. It stays open into the evening on weekdays.

Avoca calls itself Fort Worth's original micro-roaster. Its Magnolia Avenue shop is open seven days a week, into the evening, and its other shops are on Foch Street and in the Stockyards.

Volunteers run this nonprofit library, which has a reading lounge, free Wi-Fi, and a classroom for rent. Closed Sundays.

The Wild Detectives takes its name from Bolaño's Los Detectives Salvajes. It is a bookstore and bar at two addresses in Bishop Arts, and author talks happen at its Ideas space on North Zang Boulevard. The Inner Moonlight poetry series meets here, and so do a long-running book club and a Spanish-language one.

The restaurant at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth cooks seasonal menus from Texas ingredients and serves dinner on Fridays.

The Nasher Sculpture Center's café serves lunch on museum days. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

The Workshop takes writers of every genre and level who want to publish professionally. Members read and critique each week on Wednesday evenings, at the Grapevine Convention Center or the public library next door. Members also get author support and networking.

The DFW Writers' Workshop presents this two-day conference each year, with nearly 100 classes, panels, and workshops. Writers come for the querying sessions, in-person agent pitches, and small-group feedback. Scholarships are offered.

The Dallas Museum of Art brings award-winning and emerging authors to its literary series. The series pairs literature with visual art, dance, music, and film.

Deep Vellum's festival puts literary panels and readings in venues across Deep Ellum, with live music in the evenings.

The Dallas Institute offers courses and talks on literature and the arts. Teachers come for the Sue Rose Summer Institute. The Institute also awards the Hiett Prize and holds an MLK Symposium.

Writing a book on Texas, the Southwest, or the U.S.-Mexico borderlands? The Clements Center gives year-long residential fellowships at SMU for first books, plus a senior fellowship for a second or later book. Fellows get a stipend, research and travel money, a publication subvention, and a workshop on the manuscript, and the year is free of teaching.

The O'Donnell Institute is UT Dallas's stand-alone institute for art-history research and graduate study. It offers graduate fellowships and hosts postdoctoral fellows. With UT Dallas's Bass School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology, it publishes the Athenaeum Review.

UNT faculty can archive published and unpublished research in UNT Scholarly Works, which gives each item a stable web address and preserves it long term. The Libraries also run UNT Open Books for open textbooks.

Humanities Texas is the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, based in Austin. Its grants for humanities programs range from mini-grants and rural grants to major grants. It also trains English language arts and social studies teachers.

Deep Vellum is a nonprofit publisher of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, photography, and children's books, both translated and written in English. Its seven imprints include Dalkey Archive Press.

UNT Press was founded in 1987 and publishes about 20 to 25 books a year. Texas and Southwestern history, military history, music, and folklore are among its subjects, along with poetry and nature writing. One of its series is the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Series.

Texas Christian University's press publishes the history, culture, and literature of Texas and the American West. Regional fiction and local history are part of its list.

The American Association of Neuroscience Nurses publishes this journal on neurological and neurosurgical advances as they affect nursing care, along with theory, research, and commentary on the neuroscience nurse's role. Editor-in-chief DaiWai M. Olson is at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Preparing an article for Journal of Neuroscience Nursing

Police Quarterly is a peer-reviewed journal of empirical, policy-oriented research on policing, qualitative and quantitative, written for practitioners and academics. Its editor, John L. Worrall, is at UT Dallas's School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences. Preparing an article for Police Quarterly

The journal publishes research reports, literature reviews, position papers, and accounts of interventions that have worked in learning disabilities. Editor Stephanie Al Otaiba is at SMU. Preparing an article for Journal of Learning Disabilities

The Texas Institute of Letters gives awards each year for books by writers with Texas roots. First books of nonfiction and poetry have their own awards, the Beverly Lowry and Naomi Shihab Nye, and graphic novels compete for the Frederick Luis Aldama Award.

This fellowship helps a writer finish a book of fiction, poetry, or nonfiction for a general audience. Writers at any stage can apply if they have a publishing record or a demonstrated commitment to the craft.

The fellow lives and writes full time at J. Frank Dobie's 254-acre Paisano ranch southwest of Austin. UT Austin sponsors it, and writers in any genre may apply.

The Texas Legislature appoints a State Poet Laureate for each year, and the Texas Commission on the Arts announces the appointment through its Texas State Artist program. The Commission takes nominations.

UNT Press runs both book prizes and publishes the winning story and poetry collections in two prize series.

SMU students will find grants and writing resources gathered on this page.

The same guide, for UT Dallas students.

UNT students in Denton have a page of their own.

TCU students in Fort Worth can start here.

UT Arlington has its own guide.

Dallas Baptist University students will find their grants and writing resources here.

Dallas Theological Seminary students have a guide too.

Kristin Wright and Gino Dal Cin run this risograph studio, where they make riso prints and zines. For a zine or chapbook of your own, ask about printing, classes, or studio rental. The shop is open by appointment.

The Dock Bookshop's print shop makes programs, bookmarks, and flyers for readings and launches. Its Lighthouse 4 Authors program offers author services, and the store also lists book-launch help among its services.