A Writer's Guide to Groningen

Groningen's central public library is in Forum, the cultural building on the Nieuwe Markt. Members can borrow 25 titles and 10 e-books at a time. The catalogue is in Dutch. Filter it by language (taal) to find the English-language collection the library keeps adding to, and members can also read Comics Plus, an online collection of English comics, graphic novels and manga.

The University Library is on Broerstraat and is open daily, into the evening on weekdays. Outside visitors, alumni included, can buy a UB subscription or a Martini Card that also works at Forum. Students at other Dutch universities get a card free.

Special Collections keeps manuscripts and printed works up to 1900, along with personal archives and historical maps. One of its online exhibitions covers Joan Blaeu's Atlas Maior. Find items in the SmartCat catalogue and read them in the Special Collections Room. Without a library card, bring valid ID and a deposit to the ground-floor Library Support Desk for a one-time pass. Digitised items are at dbc.rug.nl.

Godert Walter carries literature in Dutch, English, German and French, along with history and Groningana, books about the region. In good weather you can sit in the garden with a coffee. The shop holds book talks and presentations, some of them at Sociëteit De Harmonie.

Walter's is Godert Walter's English-language sister shop, with literature and poetry alongside science and history. It hosts author meetings and a silent book club. Local artists show work in Walter's Showcase.

Riemer has been an independent bookseller since 1945 and has three sister shops elsewhere in the Netherlands. It is known for literature and children's books, and for psychology and theology. The Groningen shop has places to sit and serves coffee from Riemer's own roastery; in the colder months the fireplace is lit. Riemer also holds book presentations.

Yantra calls itself "de boeddha-winkel van het noorden," the Buddha shop of the North. It sells books on Buddhism and mindfulness, yoga and ecology, along with meditation cushions, and runs its own programme of activities. Its website is in Dutch.

Berger & De Vries, a member of the Dutch antiquarian booksellers' association NVvA, specialises in artist monographs and artists' books, with history and philosophy on the shelves too. On Wednesdays in even-numbered weeks it puts out a fresh batch of about 2,000 secondhand books under the name Bookmaker. It is closed Sundays.

Books 4 Life has run a charity bookshop in the Paddepoel shopping centre since 2016. The stock is large and changes often.

Work places with power points run all through Forum, and the quieter ones are on floor 8 west, looking out on the Martinitoren. Leave the tables marked as not for study to other visitors. STACH, the ground-floor café, is open all day, and the guarded bike shed under the Nieuwe Markt is free.

Uurwerker is a café-restaurant open seven days a week, and it says it has plenty of room for working. The terrace is covered and heated. A DJ plays Thursday to Saturday, so write here earlier in the week.

Het Concerthuis is an eetbar serving coffee and shared dishes all day. The city's own guide to study spots calls it calm despite the busy square outside. It is open every day, with brunch on Sundays.

Visitors can use any study place in the UB. The exception is the UG-only weeks around exams, when only University of Groningen students and staff get in and seats must be booked ahead. The building stays open into the evening on weekdays.

The designer Maarten Baas restyled the Groninger Museum's café, and there is an espresso bar in the lobby. The museum is closed Mondays outside school holidays.

Camera Café sits beside Forum's five cinema screens and looks over the atrium toward the Martinikerk. Order coffee or a craft beer at the bar, with a grilled cheese sandwich if you're hungry. For a wider view, go up to Bar Bistro NOK on the tenth floor.

Huize Maas calls itself the city café and stage of Groningen. Its hall holds up to 850 people for a music programme. Book ahead for the restaurant.

NOORDWOORD works for an accessible, active literary culture in the North of the Netherlands. It runs the festival Het Grote Gebeuren and, each summer, the poetry and spoken-word festival Dichters in de Prinsentuin, and it publishes reviews and literary news online. Beginning writers in Noord-Nederland can join its Talentprogramma, a peer network that also offers advice and use of the Munnekeholm space. The site and programmes are in Dutch.

Shut Up & Write! meets on Wednesdays on the first floor of De Graanrepubliek, a literary café. Writers spend about an hour on their own projects. Nobody reads your pages or critiques them. There is no fee, but everyone orders at least one drink.

ICOG is one of three research institutes in the Faculty of Arts, with research centres ranging from historical studies to media and journalism. Its Visiting Research Fellowship hosts post-PhD academics from other institutions for one to six months of their own research. An ICOG member has to nominate you, and fellows fund themselves. In return for at least one masterclass, they can use the library's special collections and attend ICOG seminars.

Uitgeverij kleine Uil publishes a broad Dutch-language list, from poetry and prose to regional and educational books. It also publishes books linked to the literary site Tzum.

Passage publishes Dutch-language fiction and poetry alongside history and books about Groningen. Its list includes the novels of Anjet Daanje, whose De herinnerde soldaat appeared in English as The Remembered Soldier, and At Home in Groningen, which it calls the first English-language book about the city. Passage keeps its own small shop on Sint Jansstraat.

The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development publishes work on international economics and economic development, with a focus on where trade and development meet. One of its co-editors is in the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Groningen. Preparing an article for The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development

NOORDWOORD and the City of Groningen award this stipend each year to help a literary talent move to a professional writing practice. Applicants are 35 or under, live in the municipality of Groningen and show serious literary ambition. Any literary form qualifies, from a book to a podcast or an interactive walk. The stipend pays a project budget plus a budget for development and coaching.

NOORDWOORD has awarded this prize for Groningen literature every year since 2010, in fiction and non-fiction, with a public prize as well. Publishers submit the books, and a jury names five nominees in each category.

DE AANZET gives a small group of beginning writers from Groningen, Drenthe and Fryslân a year of personal guidance, with on-location residencies and chances to present their work. Any form counts, poetry and podcasts included.

The Dutch Foundation for Literature is the national literature fund. It offers grants and residencies, and its work covers Dutch-language books for adults and children as well as translators of Dutch literature.

The Helmuth Plessner Gesellschaft set up this fund for researchers from outside Groningen who work in the library's Plessner archive. It reimburses travel and up to a month's lodging. Recipients present their findings in Groningen.

PeterPrint is a Groningen online printer with its own print works. Its guide to printing dissertations recommends Wire-O binding and offers more than 20 paper types, some of them more sustainable stock. Orders go through the website.

Tumult teaches printmaking in its grafiekatelier, with courses from woodcut to screen printing for every level. Beginnen met drukwerk meets on Monday evenings.