A Writer's Guide to Miami

The county system's Main Library is downtown on West Flagler Street, and its Special Collections department is here. A writing group or a reading series can book the 120-seat Arva Parks McCabe Auditorium or the First Floor Community Room through the library's reservation page. It is closed Sundays.

Miami Beach Regional has meeting rooms for 15 or 90 people and a conference room, all bookable online. Its YOUmake Miami maker space offers 3D printing and sewing. The library stays open into the evening three nights a week and closes on Sundays.

The Kislak Center at Richter Library holds rare books and manuscripts, more than 600 archival collections on Florida, the Caribbean, and Latin America, and over 1,000 artists' books. The materials are open to the public. Book the reading room at least seven days ahead through LibCal and request items through Aeon. Visitors without a UM ID buy a pass to enter the libraries.

The Cuban Heritage Collection describes itself as the largest repository of materials on Cuba outside the island. Its holdings run from personal papers on exile and the diaspora to rare books and newspapers. Outside researchers should email chc@miami.edu at least seven days before a visit. Graduate students can apply for the Goizueta Foundation Graduate Fellowship, and the collection also gives short-term research grants.

FIU's rare books and archives come from South Florida, the Caribbean, and Latin America. They support research in literature and local history, and in politics and art as well. Visits are by appointment on weekdays, on the fourth floor of Green Library.

The Wolfsonian's library holds about 125,000 rare books, periodicals, and other items, among them the Herbert Bayer Archive and the Christopher DeNoon Collection on New Deal culture. Scholars and the general public can use it by appointment. Request a visit through the museum's Schedule a Research Visit form.

Mitchell Kaplan founded Books & Books in 1982, and the Coral Gables store is still locally owned. It hosts author events and art gallery nights. Find a reading nook inside or take your book out to the courtyard café.

The Grove store sits in an old building in the center of the neighborhood and holds its own author events. The BANH pop-up café is inside.

Roots, a Black-owned bookstore co-owned by Isaiah Thomas, opened in Liberty City in 2025. Its shelves include Black literature and feminist and womanist thought, along with poetry and plays, and local authors have a section of their own. Readings and read-a-thons happen here, and there is a café. The store is closed Sundays and Mondays.

The New York-born independent bookseller opened its Miami store in late 2024. Look for the art books and manga, and for its Latin American literature section.

Bookleggers calls itself Miami's first and only free bookstore. Donated books are given away, and visitors can sit and read on the couches and benches. It also runs a book trailer and Bookboxes around the city. The store is open Tuesday through Sunday afternoons.

Book Horizons is a family-owned store across US-1 from the University of Miami. It sells new and used law textbooks and law school study aids.

The Little Haiti café is a large room with a long communal table, and it is usually not too busy. The Infatuation rates it the best of Panther's Miami cafés for working. It is open daily.

Panther's Grove café is at 3407 Main Hwy, and Books & Books is at 3409. Both are open daily. The company also has cafés in Wynwood and MiMo.

Café Demetrio is a family-run café in the 1920s building that was home to Coral Gables' first newspaper. It has free WiFi. Patrons are invited to linger on the patio, which The Infatuation notes has plenty of outlets. The café keeps daytime hours and is closed Sundays.

Imperial Moto, a café and roaster founded in 2016, keeps vintage motorcycles on display. The Infatuation reports strong wifi, with couches up front and a handful of tables. The room is rarely crowded except during the weekend pop-up.

This is the café of a local small-batch roaster, in an area with few coffee shops. Window stools open up even when it is busy. For evening work, try its coffee bar at The Citadel in Little River, which stays open later.

Tea & Poets has run its tea lounge since 2016, with sofas and a column stocked with board games. FIU's Caplin News calls it a good place to get work done. Bring a poem on Wednesday night, when the open mic starts at 7.

The bookstore's café has an open-air courtyard and an indoor room surrounded by books and art. It serves breakfast daily, plus salads and sandwiches. The Infatuation says it stays quiet enough to work.

The Betsy's restaurants include LT Steak & Seafood and La Ventanita, and the hotel has a piano bar. This is also the home of The Writer's Room.

Verde is PAMM's casual restaurant, with limited seating indoors and a waterfront terrace. It is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays and stays open late on Thursdays.

Versailles has served Cuban food on Calle Ocho since 1971, and it is open daily until late. Its ventanita calls itself the go-to hub for conversation in Miami's Cuban community.

Ball & Chain opened in 1935 and reopened at its original Calle Ocho address in 2014. There is live music every day, jazz included. Salsa plays every night, with free dance classes. The kitchen serves Cuban dishes.

Miami Dade College holds the Miami Book Fair downtown each November, with a free Street Fair. It also runs literary and cultural events year-round, including programs in Spanish and Creole. The Emerging Writer Fellowships come from here, too.

O, Miami's April poetry festival aims for every person in Miami-Dade County to encounter a poem. Through The Sunroom, it places poets in schools and detention centers, among other communities, to teach free classes. It also runs the Jai-Alai Books imprint.

SWWIM supports women+ poets across generations with readings and events. Its SWWIM Every Day archive posts a poem each day.

Since 2012 this studio at The Betsy has hosted more than 1,500 visiting writers and other artists in short stays, and poets are a particular focus. Its desk came from the Hyam Plutzik Centennial Committee; Plutzik was a poet and the father of the hotel's owner. Stays are free, and the program does not take unsolicited applications. Visiting writers are asked to give a recent book to one of the hotel's libraries. O, Miami runs a visiting poet series with the room, and SWWIM holds a residency here.

EXILE started as an experimental artist's bookstore and project space in Little Haiti, and it now operates as EXILE Projects. It promotes print culture in Miami through artists' books and zines and through its own Exile Editions.

The center presents public book talks and lectures. The book talks take place at Books & Books in Coral Gables.

The center calls itself the humanities hub of FIU. It works with partners on campus and around the city on talks and teach-ins, and some of its programs are open to the public.

FIU's museum on Miami Beach offers fellowships for three to four weeks of full-time research in its collections. Scholars with a master's or doctoral degree can apply, as can Ph.D. candidates and others with significant professional records, from the U.S. or abroad. Fellows receive a stipend and round-trip travel, and those from outside the area are housed.

Florida Humanities is a nonprofit in St. Petersburg, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the State of Florida. It gives Public Humanities Program Grants and Book Festival Grants. It also runs the Florida Center for the Book and publishes FORUM Magazine.

Jai-Alai Books is O, Miami's regional imprint, and it publishes about three titles a year. It also runs an annual chapbook prize with the Cave Canem Foundation.

AIB Insights is the Academy of International Business's outlet for short, topical articles aimed at researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in international business. Its editor, William Newburry, is a professor in FIU's Department of International Business. Preparing an article for AIB Insights

The American Journal of Critical Care publishes original clinical, translational, and health services research relevant to critical care nursing, interprofessional practice, and critical care delivery. It is co-edited at the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies and at Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, and published by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. Preparing an article for American Journal of Critical Care

Miami Book Fair gives year-long fellowships to previously unpublished writers working to finish a book-length project. Fellows receive a stipend and mentorship from established authors in their genre. Prose writers of fiction or nonfiction can apply, and the Mindich Fellowship is for Jewish fiction.

The county's Department of Cultural Affairs gives merit-based awards to individual artists in every discipline who work in Miami-Dade County. Awards go to early-career artists and to those in mid- to advanced career.

Artist Access grants help practicing artists who live in Miami-Dade County pay for professional development, such as hands-on training or an industry conference. The county runs the program with FUNDarte.

Writers are among the artists eligible for these two-week residencies at The Wolfsonian. Fellows draw on the museum's collections and share new work. They receive a stipend and travel, and those from outside the area are housed. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents with a record of accomplishment.

O, Miami's Jai-Alai Books imprint runs this annual chapbook prize with the Cave Canem Foundation.

Florida State University Libraries coordinates the state's book awards in eleven categories, poetry and general fiction among them, along with Spanish-language books. Most categories require full-time Florida residency. Florida nonfiction, visual arts, and cooking ask for a Florida subject instead.

This page lists grants, fellowships, and writing prizes at the University of Miami, along with campus writing support.

FIU students will find the same guide for their university here.

Barry University students can look up writing prizes and the Writing Center on this page.

This one covers St. Thomas University.

Printer Tom Virgin runs this letterpress studio. He prints books, some of them for the Miami Book Fair. The studio keeps daytime hours and also opens by appointment.

Oolite Arts' printshop has an etching press and a silkscreen darkroom. Open Studio Hours are reserved by the half hour. You need printmaking experience or an orientation first.