A Writer's Guide to Flagstaff, Arizona
Downtown Flagstaff has Bright Side Bookshop and the main public library on Aspen Avenue, and on Wednesday nights the Flagstaff Poetry Slam meets at Firecreek Coffee. Up Fort Valley Road, the Museum of Northern Arizona keeps a research library and archives on the land and peoples of the Colorado Plateau, while Cline Library's Special Collections on the NAU campus are open to anyone doing research. The Northern Arizona Book Festival, founded in 1997, brings readings and workshops to town each spring. Poets and novelists use the same rooms as NAU faculty finishing a book.
Libraries · Bookstores · Places to Write · Places to Eat · Writing Community · Presses · Journal · Awards and Grants · Printing and Binding · When the Manuscript Is Ready
Libraries
Book a meeting room downtown if your group needs one, and arrange an appointment with the Museum of Northern Arizona's archivist before you drive up Fort Valley Road.
The Downtown Library's meeting rooms include a Community Room for up to 41 people. The Friends of the Library hold their book sale here. It is open daily.
The east-side branch is open daily and keeps evening hours Monday through Thursday.
Special Collections is open to the public for research, and a visit needs no advance notice. Its holdings center on the Colorado Plateau and the Four Corners region. Less than 1% of its primary sources are digitized, so plan on working in the second-floor Reading Room.
The museum's research library runs to several thousand items, from periodicals and theses to maps. Archaeology, ethnology, and geology are its strengths. Nothing circulates, so make an appointment with the archivist to work onsite.
Independent Bookstores
Start downtown at Bright Side, then head to Bookmans on Riordan Ranch Street for used books.
Bright Side Bookshop sells new books and has children's and young adult sections. It hosts author events, book launches among them, and holds in-store events during the First Friday Art Walk. Ask about book club perks.
Bookmans is a privately held Arizona company, founded in 1976 and based in Tucson. Its Flagstaff store trades in used books and media, paying in store credit or cash for what it can use. The store also books live music and improv.
Places to Write
If your writing group needs a place to meet, try Kickstand Kafe.
Macy's is a coffeehouse and bakery that also sells its coffee by the pound. It opens early every day and closes in the afternoon.
Firecreek is a local roaster, and this is its downtown café. The Flagstaff Poetry Slam meets here on Wednesday nights. The company's original roastery, 111 Roasting Works, is at 111 S. San Francisco St.
Kickstand serves breakfast and lunch every day, with locally roasted Single Speed Coffee. Sit by the fireplace inside, or work on the large outdoor patio.
Cafe Dreamin' pours Firecreek Coffee inside Bookmans. It also sells bagels from Biff's, a local bagelry, and cookies and scones.
Places to Eat
Readers of Zane Grey will find the novelist's name at both downtown hotels.
Hotel Monte Vista opened on January 1, 1927. Novelist Zane Grey gave money toward it during the 1926 fund drive. Rendezvous serves craft cocktails, and Lotus Lounge offers dine-in and carryout.
The Weatherford Hotel opened on January 1, 1900, a block from Route 66 and the Amtrak station. Along with its restaurant, Charly's, it has three pubs and bars and hosts live entertainment. Charly's Pub dates to 1981 and the Zane Grey Ballroom to 1997.
Writing Community
Literary Organizations
Sign up for the slam ahead of time by email, or put your name down at the door.
The Northern Arizona Book Festival is a literary nonprofit founded in 1997. Its spring festival brings readings and book fairs, along with panels on editing and publishing and workshops in zinemaking. It also runs the Indigenous Writers Symposium and the Young Readers' Fest, and the NAU MFA Program is a collaborator.
The slam meets every Wednesday evening at Firecreek Coffee and runs under standard slam rules. Admission is pay what you can.
The Thursday Night Book Club meets at the downtown branch, which also hosts adult events. The library presents the Copper Quill Award to a Coconino County author.
Creative Flagstaff is the City of Flagstaff's lead arts and grants agency. It operates the Coconino Center for the Arts, which produces exhibitions and performances as well as educational workshops. It also takes part in the First Friday ArtWalk and presents the annual Viola Awards.
For Faculty and Researchers
Faculty at NAU can start with the library's guide for authors on OpenKnowledge.
OpenKnowledge@NAU gathers the scholarly, creative, and instructional output of Northern Arizona University. Browse it by author or department, or search the whole collection.
The museum's archives document the land and peoples of the Colorado Plateau and the history of research with tribes in northern Arizona. They hold about 400 manuscript collections and some 300,000 photographs. Researchers consult material by appointment with the archivist in the Easton Collection Center.
Arizona Humanities is the state's affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities and has supported public programs since 1974. It makes grants to organizations for public humanities work. AZ Speaks and AZ Reads are two of its programs.
Presses in Flagstaff
Look through each press's recent list to see where your book would sit.
Salina Bookshelf publishes Diné (Navajo) language and bilingual books, along with Hopi titles. Its list runs from board books to novels and textbooks. Teachers can download free guides for some titles.
Vishnu Temple Press publishes nonfiction about the Grand Canyon, Arizona rivers, and the Colorado Plateau. Guidebooks and history share its list with memoir and poetry.
Soulstice Publishing calls its list "books with soul." It publishes running and sports biographies and books on Navajo culture. Walking Flagstaff, a guide to the town on foot, is among its regional titles.
A Journal Edited in Flagstaff
Our Promise
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 the journal's author instructions on the Cambridge site before you format your references.
Studies in Second Language Acquisition is an open access, peer-reviewed Cambridge University Press journal on the acquisition and use of non-native and heritage languages. Its editor, Luke Plonsky, is at Northern Arizona University. Preparing an article for Studies in Second Language Acquisition
Awards, Grants, and Fellowships
For Arizona Writers
Check eligibility closely. Several of these require Arizona or Coconino County residence.
The state arts agency's R&D Grant supports individual artists in any discipline, from those just starting out to those with many career successes. Applicants must be Arizona residents 18 or older.
The governor appoints the Arizona Poet Laureate to a two-year term. Anyone can make a nomination through the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and poets may nominate themselves. The laureate champions poetry and encourages emerging literary artists.
The library has given the Copper Quill Award since 1995 to a local author for a published book and a body of work. Writers in a range of genres are considered if they live or have lived in Coconino County for at least a continuous year. Someone else must make the nomination. Past recipients choose the winner.
The Piper Center's fellowship pays a stipend for a significant literary project with a cross-cultural, multicultural, or international focus. Individuals and small teams based in Arizona can apply. ASU faculty are ineligible.
Creative Flagstaff has presented the Viola Awards each year since 2009. Named for arts advocate Viola Babbitt, they honor people and organizations that contribute to the arts in Flagstaff. Nominations go in through an online form.
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 NAU students on one page.
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 Flagstaff, Arizona are listed below.
Northern Arizona University's print shop takes orders from community members as well as from NAU, for small- and large-format printing. Community orders are prepaid by card. Pick them up at the Jacks Card Office, Suite 115, in the University Union.
Reliance is a Flagstaff commercial printer for digital and offset work. It handles binding and finishing, foil stamping included, and prints posters and large-format pieces.
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
- Tracking Source Material: Best Practices for Archival Citations in History and Humanities
- 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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