A Writer's Guide to Norman, Oklahoma

Norman East is a Pioneer Library System branch with a full events calendar. Writing groups can book its meeting rooms online.

Norman West has meeting rooms too, reserved the same way, and a separate events calendar.

Library Lab is the system's downtown storefront. Staff help visitors use the 3D printers, laser cutter, video gear and mobile sound lab, and there is Wi-Fi. Request a book from another branch and pick it up from the lockers here.

Bizzell is OU's main library. Visitors can use the Loveridge Computer Lab and campus Wi-Fi, and they can apply for a Courtesy Borrower's Permit to check out books. The Boorstin Collection on the main floor is a quiet place to read. OU faculty and graduate students can reserve single-occupancy study rooms.

All of OU's special collections, the Western History Collections and the History of Science Collections among them, share one reading room on Bizzell's fifth floor. Many materials are stored offsite, so every visit needs an appointment. Out-of-town researchers should pre-register and consult a librarian first. Finding aids and digital collections are searchable online.

The Indigenous- and woman-owned store carries new and used books, including antiquarian titles and Indigenous and Chickasaw subjects. Its lounge is a comfortable place to read. The store hosts author signings and poetry readings.

The Lore is a woman-owned shop selling new and used books, centered on fantasy and science fiction and on LGBTQ and BIPOC authors. It also stocks art and craft supplies and goods from local artists.

Speeding Bullet sells new releases, back issues, graphic novels and trade paperbacks. It has hosted creator signings and Free Comic Book Day events.

Gray Owl is a worker-cooperative café and roastery, open every day. The extended space and the back patio have room to work for hours. It holds a monthly open mic.

Yellow Dog roasts its coffee in Norman. The main café and roastery on Porter Avenue is open daily and sits next door to The Lore.

Second Wind calls itself The Living Room on Campus Corner. It is a nonprofit, donation-based coffeehouse with student volunteer baristas and a quiet place to study. Local musicians play there, and visual artists hang work on its walls.

Haystack pitches itself to students and to people working away from the office. It stays open into the evening Monday through Thursday. The OU Daily described an "energetic, studious atmosphere."

Anyone can walk into Bizzell's Great Reading Room, which is kept for silent study. It has long tables, outlets and reliable Wi-Fi. For coffee, go down to the Bookmark Cafe on Lower Level 1.

Cup of Jones is the museum's café and shop. You can stop in without paying museum admission. It is closed Sundays and Mondays.

Sergio's serves Italian food with live music. Jazz & Brunch falls on the first Sunday of each month, and guitarist Edgar Cruz plays on the third or fourth Sunday evening.

Legally Brewed is a craft brewery and taproom with a wide range of nonalcoholic drinks. Its lounge holds live music and events.

World Literature Today is the University of Oklahoma's magazine of international literature and culture. It publishes poetry, fiction, essays and interviews from around the world, reviews books and keeps a Translator Index. Its Puterbaugh Festival brings an international author to OU for public talks and performances.

Galaxy of Writers members work in many genres, from poetry and memoir to juvenile literature. The group meets on the second Saturday of each month from January through November, with a speaker on the craft or business of writing. Members trade feedback at Critique-a-Thons. There is an annual writing contest.

OWFI is based in Oklahoma City, and Galaxy of Writers is one of its affiliate groups. It holds an annual conference and offers scholarships to attend. Its publication, The Report, carries writers' news, short fiction and poetry. Students and military members can join through separate membership options.

The Center is Oklahoma's affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book. It promotes Oklahoma authors and brings readers and writers together at libraries and bookstores across the state.

The Forum supports interdisciplinary arts and humanities research at OU. It gives faculty internal seed grants, and with the Center for Faculty Excellence it helps them prepare external grant and fellowship applications. Forum Public Fellows build public programs with community partners.

Thinking about starting a journal? Libraries Publishing Services hosts peer-reviewed open access journals and helps faculty launch one or move an existing journal to its platform. The team also manages SHAREOK, the repository OU shares with the University of Central Oklahoma, and offers Research Publication Subvention Funding and open access publishing discounts.

Oklahoma Humanities is the state's affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It makes grants for public humanities, preservation and access, and education projects. It also publishes Oklahoma Humanities magazine and runs the Let's Talk About It discussion programs.

OU Press publishes in the humanities and social sciences. Its particular strengths are Native American and Indigenous studies and the American West and Southwest. It also publishes military and environmental history. Some books carry its Arthur H. Clark Company imprint.

Johns Hopkins University Press publishes this quarterly on the global history of women and of gender, across all periods. Alongside research articles it runs essays on theory and method and book review essays. The editorial team works in OU's Department of History. Preparing an article for the Journal of Women's History

Religious Studies is Cambridge University Press's journal of the philosophy of religion, in classical and contemporary debates and across religious traditions. It has an extensive book review section. Editor Yujin Nagasawa keeps the editorial office in Dale Hall Tower. Preparing an article for Religious Studies

This Emerald journal publishes interdisciplinary research, commentary and case analyses on the nexus of international economic policy and international economic law. James Hartigan at OU co-edits it with Leila Choukroune at the University of Portsmouth. Preparing an article for the Journal of International Trade Law and Policy

The Oklahoma Center for the Book co-sponsors these annual awards for books by an Oklahoman or about Oklahoma. There are five categories, poetry and children's and young adult books among them.

The Center presents this award with the Oklahoma Book Awards to an Oklahoman who has added to the state's literary heritage. Arrell Gibson was a Norman historian and the Center's first president.

OU and World Literature Today sponsor this biennial prize for a living poet, novelist or dramatist writing in any language, as long as a representative part of the work is available in English. Each juror, a writer, nominates one author. The jury then meets at OU to choose the laureate.

World Literature Today gives this biennial prize. It honors a living writer or author-illustrator for significant achievement in children's or young adult literature. A jury chooses the laureate, who is celebrated at a public ceremony at OU.

OWFI's annual contest has 37 categories, from flash fiction to full-length books. Published and unpublished work can both enter.

Editors For Students keeps a page of OU research grants and writing prizes. Its writing-resources section covers the Writing Center and its programs for dissertation writers.

Oscillator teaches printmaking workshops, screen printing and woodblock cutting among them. It also holds yearly festivals and hosts visiting artists for week- to month-long residencies.

The university's print shop does digital and offset printing of booklets and magazines. Binding is wire or coil, and it prints large-format posters and banners.