A Writer's Guide to Logan, Utah

Logan Library is the city's public library, on Main Street downtown. Book a meeting or study room through its online calendar. Its Virginia Hanson Special Collections holds material on the history of Logan and the surrounding area, from historic newspapers to photographs, some of it shelved on the third floor. Among the adult book clubs is an African American Classics club. The library is closed Sundays.

North Logan Public Library is in North Logan, the next town north of Logan. A writing group that needs a room can book one of its meeting rooms or event halls online through Booked Up. It is closed Sundays.

Merrill-Cazier Library sits on the Utah State University campus. Community members can buy a public borrowing card at the Library Help Desk, good for up to ten books for three weeks. Alumni borrow free. The library also holds public events, among them its book club and the English department's Brewer Festival of Writing readings.

Special Collections covers the history of Utah and the Intermountain West, and folklorists will want the Fife Folklore Archives. Rare books and manuscripts are read in the Tanner Reading Room, as is the Outdoor Recreation Archive. Walk in or make an appointment. Your first visit includes a registration agreement, good for five years, and you show photo ID each time.

The Book Table was founded in 1933 by a woman who sold books at school book fairs. Since 1986 it has filled a 36,000-square-foot building on South Main Street, with a music department and a concert hall under the same roof and a School of Music in the basement. You can pre-order new titles.

Caffe Ibis roasts its coffee in Logan, and its Gallery Cafe sits on Federal Avenue in historic downtown. It is open daily. Helicon West's event posts tag Caffe Ibis Roasters alongside Logan Library and the USU English department.

Every Thursday evening, Logan Library opens the Creative Support Studio to writers and artists who bring their own projects. The time is set up for quiet work. Conversation breaks and short demos are optional.

For a quiet session away from downtown, the study rooms at North Logan Public Library in North Logan are free. Book one online through Booked Up.

Westside Coffee Company occupies what was once a historic residence in downtown Logan. It is open daily, and Wi-Fi is complimentary for an hour per visit. Check the events calendar for occasional live music.

Prodigy, on Center Street downtown, calls itself Logan's first family-friendly brewery and brewpub. Trivia is free to play every Tuesday night.

Helicon West is a free, uncensored reading series, supported in part by the Utah State University English department. Featured writers, poets, and spoken word artists read and talk about their work. Then the open mic begins, and anyone may read up to seven minutes of their own writing. Readings are on Thursday evenings in the Logan Library Community Room, usually the second and fourth Thursdays of the month.

The League of Utah Writers has a Cache Valley chapter in Logan, and chapter meetings are open to the public. The League calls itself Utah's largest and oldest nonprofit writing organization. It publishes the Inkpot Literary Journal and two anthologies and puts on Utah Authors Day.

The USU English department's Brewer Festival of Writing is named for Ken Brewer, a former USU professor and Utah poet laureate. Authors come to the Merrill-Cazier Library for free readings with audience Q&A and book signings, and there are panel discussions too. The general public is welcome along with students and faculty.

The Utah Center for the Book at Utah Humanities runs this festival every October, National Book Month, and calls it Utah's oldest and only statewide book festival. Libraries and cultural organizations host the free author events, some in person and some online. Logan has its own dates on the regional calendar.

The Mountain West Center is an outreach center in USU's College of Arts & Sciences, working through public programs and visiting scholars. Its Bringing War Home project invites veterans and military families to share objects and stories from America's wars. The center also runs the Evans Biography Awards. Its office is in Room 339 of Old Main.

DigitalCommons@USU is Utah State University's open access repository, offered through USU Libraries. Readers can browse faculty research by department. Hosted journals, conference work, and USU Press titles are there too.

USU Special Collections & Archives lists a curator for each area, from folklore and manuscripts to photographs. Beyond the Fife Folklore Archives, the department keeps government information and the university archives. Its research guides and digital history collections are online.

Utah Humanities is an independent nonprofit in Salt Lake City, established in 1975. Its Research Fellowships go to Utah residents active in humanities teaching, research, or practice. The Albert J. Colton Fellowship is for projects of national or international scope, and the Delmont R. Oswald Fellowship is for Utah studies. Each fellow turns the project into a free public program. Program grants and oral history grants are offered too.

School Psychology Review is the research journal of the National Association of School Psychologists, published by Taylor & Francis. It takes research and review articles, registered reports, brief reports, and comments on school psychology practice and policy. Its editor-in-chief is based at Utah State University in Logan. Preparing an article for School Psychology Review

Family Process is an international, multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal, published by Wiley for the Family Process Institute. It publishes clinical research and theory on couple and family therapy. Its editor is a professor of psychology at Utah State University in Logan. Preparing an article for Family Process

The Evans awards honor biographies, autobiographies, edited memoirs, and family histories with a significant connection to the Interior West. The Evans family established them in 1983, and USU's Mountain West Center in Logan has administered them since 1987. The Evans Biography Award favors scholarly work built on primary research. The Evans Handcart Award favors family stories and gives preference to new authors. Authors or publishers submit.

The Utah Division of Arts & Museums has run this statewide competition since 1958, for Utah residents 18 and older. It takes unpublished book manuscripts, from novels to young adult books, as well as short poetry, stories, and essays. Judges from outside Utah read the entries anonymously. There is no entry fee.

The Utah Center for the Book gives these awards with the League of Utah Writers, for recently published books by permanent Utah residents. Self-published books qualify. Categories run from speculative fiction and poetry to romance and picture books.

The League of Utah Writers runs four contests a year. Quills is for published work and Olive Woolley Burt for unpublished work, while Typewriter takes published short work and Palette judges book covers. Every entry gets feedback from the judges.

Editors For Students collects research grants and writing support for students at Utah State University.

AlphaGraphics Logan prints and binds books. Its binding list runs from perfect binding and coil to hardcover.

The UPS Store Cache Valley handles copies and documents. It also prints posters, banners, stationery, and cards.

Logan Library's public makerspace has a large-format printer and a photo scanner, along with a laser cutter and sewing machines. Reserve equipment online, and sign a waiver first. Material costs follow the library's fines and fees policy.