A Writer's Guide to Eugene: Libraries, Bookstores, Writing Groups, and Presses
Eugene's Downtown Library keeps a used bookstore, Second Hand Prose, inside its doors. Wordcrafters runs classes and write-ins from its studio on Charnelton Street. Tsunami Books on Willamette Street has hosted more than 3,000 community events, and the University of Oregon's MFA students gain editorial experience on Northwest Review. Novelists and poets work at the same library tables as professors revising a monograph.
Libraries · Bookstores · Places to Write · Places to Eat · Writing Community · Presses · Journals · Awards and Grants · Printing and Binding · When the Manuscript Is Ready
Libraries
Call ahead to book a free study room at the Downtown Library, and register with UO Special Collections at least five business days before you plan to read there.
The Downtown Library is the main branch of Eugene Public Library, and it is open daily. Four small study and meeting rooms are free to reserve by phone; one has a typewriter.
Sheldon is the neighborhood branch for northeast Eugene. It closes Sundays and stays open late one evening a week.
Springfield's city library is inside Springfield City Hall. Reserve a room through its online Reserve a Space system, or join one of its book clubs. The library also runs the SpringFilm series.
Knight is the University of Oregon's largest library, with rooms you can reserve for study alone or in a group. If you have no university affiliation, ask about access through the library's Contact Us page.
Special Collections holds manuscripts and rare books in the Paulson Reading Room on Knight's second floor. The public is welcome. Send questions by email, since the phone line takes voicemail only.
Independent Bookstores
Several of these stores keep short weeks, so check the hours before you cross town.
Tsunami Books sells new, used, and out-of-print books, along with signed copies and vinyl. Its more than 3,000 community events have run from author readings and writers' workshops to poetry slams. The store is open daily.
Across from the Post Office, Smith Family Bookstore fills two levels and six rooms with used, new, and out-of-print books. It buys estate and academic collections, and it buys textbooks by appointment.
J. Michaels has dealt in new and antiquarian books downtown since 1975. Its shelves run from contemporary literature to fine bindings and signed editions, with sections on Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. It closes Sundays.
Most Ardently is a romance bookstore with an emphasis on diversity and representation. It keeps Thursday-through-Saturday hours and runs several book clubs and frequent craft nights.
Daffodil shelves its romantasy by mood and spice level, and a coffee shop shares the space. The store hosts book clubs and themed craft events.
The Friends of the Eugene Public Library run this used bookstore inside the Downtown Library. Sales benefit the library. It closes Thursdays and Fridays and stays open late on First Fridays.
Places to Write
Reserve a Downtown Library study room, and take your breaks at Novella Cafe in the entry garden.
Wordcrafters opens its studio twice a week for Writing Time, write-ins on Tuesday mornings and Sunday evenings. Members write free, and anyone can register. The studio also hosts the monthly Word open mic, and members can rent it.
Novella Cafe sits in the Downtown Library's entry garden and opens daily, early on weekdays. The library's free study rooms are steps away.
Vero Espresso House is in an old house in the University District, with couches for long study sessions and a large dog-friendly patio. It calls itself a getaway for the working creative. It is open daily.
Farmers Union runs its cafe in the historic Farmers Union Marketplace. There is plenty of seating inside and out, and it opens early every day.
Places to Eat
Hodgepodge is a bookstore and bar in one, set in a historic house just west of campus. It pours cocktails and regional beer beside the shelves. Its calendar has included poetry readings, local author launches, and book trivia.
Wandering Goat roasts certified organic coffee in the Whiteaker. Its cafe has seating indoors and out and is open every day.
The Shedd programs jazz, folk, and classical music in its Jaqua Concert Hall, along with musical theatre. Some shows offer a dinner package.
Writing Community
Literary Organizations
Start with Wordcrafters if you want a class, a critique group, or a room full of people writing.
Wordcrafters is a Eugene nonprofit for writers from beginners to professionals. It teaches adult classes and full-day craft intensives, and members can join critique groups. Its Be Writing Festival is a one-day writers' conference, and the Oregon Author Talks series brings a visiting Oregon writer in for a live conversation. Young writers have Write Club and summer camps.
UO's creative writing program teaches MFA students in fiction and poetry, along with undergraduates. Its annual Reading Series brings award-winning writers to campus.
Northwest Review publishes poetry and prose, along with interviews and reviews. UO's MFA students gain editorial experience on it. The magazine also runs poetry and prose contests.
For Faculty and Researchers
UO faculty with a book underway can look to the campus centers for fellowship time and publication support.
UO faculty can apply to the Oregon Humanities Center for research and teaching fellowships, and it runs a Publication Subvention program. The center also funds dissertation and graduate research fellowships. Its public talks include Work-in-Progress and Books-in-Print.
CSWS supports research in women and gender studies at UO. Its Faculty Research Fellowships give a course release for a term of research, and it offers travel grants and graduate student grants. The center presents the Acker-Morgen and Lorwin Lectures.
Oregon Humanities, the statewide humanities council, is based in Portland and holds events in Eugene. It publishes Oregon Humanities magazine and offers grants and fellowships.
Presses in Eugene
Read a few recent titles from a press before you send it anything.
Wipf and Stock is an independent academic and trade publisher. Its main subjects are theology and biblical studies, philosophy and church history, and it publishes fiction and poetry as well. Its Pickwick Publications imprint takes academic monographs and dissertations across disciplines. Cascade Books covers theology and cultural criticism.
Harvest House is a Christian book publisher with a Eugene mailing address. It publishes Christian living titles by pastors and teachers.
Journals Edited in Eugene
Our Promise
We can prepare your manuscript for any of the journals listed here, following each journal's author guidelines and citation style. We will ensure that the final draft you receive from us is completely ready to submit. We work with you until it is ready or refund your payment in full.
The journal publishes research on positive behavior support in schools, homes, and communities, from empirical studies and reviews to practical programs. Editor Wendy Machalicek is at the University of Oregon, and she shares the editorship with Mandy J. Rispoli of the University of Virginia. Preparing an article for the Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions
Awards, Grants, and Fellowships
For Oregon Writers
Read each program's eligibility rules before you start an application.
Literary Arts gives these fellowships to Oregon writers at any career stage, for projects in poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction, drama, and young readers' literature. Named fellowships include the Women Writers Fellowship and the Writer of Color Fellowship. Separate fellowships go to Oregon independent publishers and small presses.
Literary Arts also runs the annual Oregon Book Awards. The categories range from the Ken Kesey Award in Fiction and the Stafford:Hall Award for Poetry to graphic literature and drama.
Wordcrafters runs this contest for short fiction writers in Oregon and Washington. Winning stories appear in an anthology from Wordcrafters Press.
The statewide poetry association holds contests for adult and youth poets, plus a Spanish-language contest. It also presents the Patricia Ruth Banta Award.
For Students and Researchers
Students can find scholarships and campus writing prizes on our sister site, Editors For Students.
Editors For Students keeps a guide to grants and writing resources for University of Oregon students.
The same guide covers Oregon State University in Corvallis.
Printing and Binding
Off the Grid Editing offers book printing and binding at competitive rates. We handle layout, cover design, and print-ready files once your manuscript is edited. See our book publishing and printing services. Local printers and binders in Eugene are listed below.
WhitPrint is a nonprofit, member-supported printmaking studio, and Maude Kerns Art Center lists it among its studios. Join to work on its Ray Trayle press and other equipment.
This UPS Store makes copies and offers coil binding and laminating. Bring a manuscript here for a bound draft.
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.
- 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
- The Solitary Scholar: Building a Sustainable, Focused Writing Routine
Compiled by James Peterson Brown, PhD, Off the Grid Editing. Places and links checked November 2026.
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