A Writer's Guide to New Delhi

The Delhi Public Library was founded in 1951 with UNESCO support and runs under the Ministry of Culture, with branches across the city. Its service is free for everyone. It is one of four legal-deposit libraries entitled to a copy of every book published in India, and its collections are mainly in English, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. The Central Library is open daily.

The British Council Library runs on paid membership, with individual and family plans. Members can work in reading spaces set aside for focused study and may bring their own books. Membership also brings unlimited digital access and free entry to the library's events.

The IIC's research library took the name Durgabai Deshmukh Library in 2025. It holds about 57,000 volumes in the humanities and social sciences, with a separate Art Reference section and bound scholarly journals. It is quiet. Members can use JSTOR and borrow through DELNET inter-library loan, and the Digilib archive keeps recordings of IIC programmes. The library opens daily except on major national holidays.

The National Archives was founded in 1891 and calls itself South Asia's largest archival repository. It holds public records, private papers, oriental records, maps and microfilm. Search the Abhilekh Patal portal before you go; it carries reference media for about 100 million files, and millions of digitised records can be read online. Ask about research-room registration.

Kunzum runs bookshops in Delhi, and the Greater Kailash II store is its flagship. Stock is arranged by section, with good shelves for science and for children and young adults, and there is a coffee corner inside. Kunzum runs book clubs and events. The flagship is open daily; a smaller branch in Hauz Khas Village closes on Mondays.

Midland has traded since 1978. Its two floors of general titles are strong in alternative histories, subaltern narratives, caste and design, and it stocks Hindi books too. Staff will order titles, and the shop ships across India and abroad.

Faqir Chand began in Peshawar in 1931 and has been in Khan Market since 1951. Books stand in lopsided stacks. The stock leans to Indian fiction and non-fiction, history and translated Indian poetry.

Khan Market once had eight bookshops, and Bahrisons is one of the two still trading, with Faqir Chand. Its shelves are full of fiction from India and abroad. There is a second branch at Galleria Market in Gurugram.

CMYK is the bookshop of the Delhi publisher Roli Books. It is strong in heritage, art, architecture, design and photography. Time Out notes an archival room with rare manuscripts and maps.

MayDay is a bookstore run by the left publisher LeftWord Books. The shelves are openly political, heavy on Marxist theory, with translations and writing from the independence struggle. Time Out says it often hosts lectures, readings and discussions.

Blue Tokai is a specialty coffee roaster with many Delhi outlets. Its Origins café on Janpath takes the ground floor and a mezzanine, and it opens early each morning.

Jugmug Thela is a chai café in the lanes of Champa Gali, with seats indoors and out. Its reading room holds pre-loved books, and the book sales go to charity. It is open daily until late evening.

Spaced Out began as a co-working venture, and its rooftop and balcony seats suit a full day of work. The owner says working there is free. The café runs on what people order.

AMA spreads over three floors in Majnu Ka Tila, with quiet corners and window seats. Come early for a window.

Sahitya Akademi is India's National Academy of Letters, working in 24 languages: the 22 constitutional languages plus English and Rajasthani. It holds seminars and literary gatherings and publishes books and the journal Indian Literature. Its translation centre and the Archive of Indian Literature are in Delhi too. The library is multilingual, strongest in criticism, translation and reference.

The India International Centre is a membership centre with lectures, book discussion groups, a film club and exhibitions, and it publishes the IIC Quarterly. A short-term associate membership is available.

The India Habitat Centre has held IHC Samanvay every year since 2011. Authors, scholars, translators and performers come together around India's languages and their written and oral literatures, and entry is free. The centre also runs the Habitat Library & Research Centre and posts a programme calendar.

The Rekhta Foundation holds this three-day festival of Urdu language, literature and culture in New Delhi. Mushairas and Sufi qawwali share the programme with discussions, book launches and the Rekhta Bazaar. It works mainly in Urdu.

Delhi's administration set up the Hindi Academy in 1981 as an autonomous body for Hindi language, literature and culture. It works in Hindi. The academy runs programmes and Hindi outreach centres across the city, keeps a library with a digital collection, and publishes the e-journal Indraprastha Bharti.

ICSSR is the Government of India's apex body for research in the social and human sciences, under the Ministry of Education. It offers doctoral, postdoctoral, senior and national fellowships, along with research project and publication grants. Its documentation centre, NASSDOC, gives social science researchers library and information support.

ICHR is the national council for historical research, at the same address as Sahitya Akademi. Its fellowships run from junior research to Gurukul, and it gives research project, travel, seminar and publication grants. The library keeps a digital collection of vernacular sources on Indian history and culture. ICHR also publishes journals and books.

USIEF runs the Fulbright programme between India and the United States. Indian scholars and professionals apply here for Fulbright-Nehru and other fellowships to research and teach at U.S. universities. Its grants also take U.S. students, scholars and professionals to Indian higher education institutions.

IGNCA is a national centre for the study of all the arts. Its Kalanidhi reference library holds rare books, personal and area collections, periodicals, microfilm and slides. The centre also keeps cultural archives, manuscript catalogues and a digital repository. It publishes the Kalakalpa journal and runs a Tagore research fellows programme.

Speaking Tiger is an independent publisher with more than 800 titles. Its list runs from literary and international fiction, plays, poetry and translations to nonfiction on politics, history, travel and food. It also publishes for children and young adults.

Aleph publishes literary fiction, history, memoir, science and poetry, with books for children too. Much of the list is about India.

Review of International Studies is the journal of the British International Studies Association, published by Cambridge University Press. It publishes theoretically informed, empirically rich research on global politics, interdisciplinary work included. One of its three lead editors is at South Asian University in New Delhi. Preparing an article for Review of International Studies

Each year Sahitya Akademi gives an award for literary work in each of its 24 recognised languages, and an equal number of translation prizes. The Bhasha Samman goes to work in languages outside formal recognition and in classical and medieval literature. Its fellowships include the Anand Coomaraswamy and Premchand fellowships.

Sahitya Akademi gives the Yuva Puraskar each year to young Indian writers aged 35 and under, for a book in any of its 24 recognised languages.

The Ministry of Culture gives these research fellowships in culture, and the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training in Dwarka handles applications. Projects run for two years. The literary-arts strand covers travelogue and the history and theory of literature. Junior Fellowships are for applicants aged 25 to 40 and Senior Fellowships for those over 40, and a share of finished project documents can get a one-time publishing grant.

The Delhi government set up the Urdu Academy in 1981. It gives awards and prizes on books, and it helps writers pay to publish their manuscripts. It works in Urdu. The academy also holds seminars and lectures, runs the Dara Shikoh Library, and publishes the journals Aiwan-e-Urdu and Umang.

This guide gathers scholarships and doctoral funding at the University of Delhi, along with its research support and the rules for Ph.D. theses.

The JNU guide lists scholarships and school-level prizes, along with the university's academic writing support.

Pulp Society is a contemporary art space and open print workshop down an industrial lane in Okhla Phase I. Artists work there alongside master printers, and its exhibitions put risograph and other print work on show. It is open Monday to Saturday.