A Writer's Guide to Paris

The American Library in Paris is an English-language membership library. Members borrow print and digital books. Its Evenings with an Author series brings writers in for talks, and rooms can be hired. It is closed Mondays and stays open late on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

The national library's François-Mitterrand site has two parts. Anyone 14 or older can use the bibliothèque tous publics with a reading ticket for a day or a year, or with a free evening ticket. The research library needs a Pass Recherche, granted according to your status and research needs, and a reserved seat. It is closed Sundays. Both parts work mainly in French.

The restored Salle Ovale at Richelieu is free and open to everyone, with no age limit. Enter at 5 rue Vivienne. It is closed Mondays and open late on Tuesdays. The research reading rooms, Manuscripts and Maps among them, ask for a research justification and a BnF/INHA card or Pass Recherche, and they work mainly in French.

Sainte-Geneviève is an inter-university public library, and readers of its general collection work in Henri Labrouste's iron-framed reading room, open Monday to Saturday into the evening. Anyone over 18, or holding the baccalauréat, can register. The first registration is done in person. The Réserve of manuscripts and prints and the Bibliothèque nordique open in the afternoons. The library works mainly in French.

Forney, in the Hôtel de Sens, is the City of Paris library for the decorative and graphic arts and design. Its poster collection is one of France's four largest, and the Bibliothèque des Arts Graphiques covers printing. Registration is free for adults who bring original ID; archives and original posters are seen by emailed appointment. It closes Sundays and Mondays. Everything runs in French.

Shakespeare and Company sells new and rare books in English across the Seine from Notre-Dame. Its author events are free, and many are released as podcasts. The shop also runs a writing contest and a publishing arm. Its café, beside the shop, serves specialty coffee and vegetarian meals every day.

Penelope Fletcher runs The Red Wheelbarrow, an independent English-language bookshop opposite the Jardin du Luxembourg, named for William Carlos Williams's poem. It is open every day and holds regular readings and poetry evenings. Its children's shop, The Red Balloon, is at no. 9.

Vrin publishes and sells philosophy from its shop on the place de la Sorbonne. The shop works mainly in French.

Les Mots à la Bouche sells queer, feminist and anti-racist writing, with shelves of philosophy and comics too. Its talks and signings on the ground floor are free. It opens every day, Sundays included, and works in French.

Artazart is a bookshop and gallery for photography and illustration, with launches and signings through the year. It is open daily.

Cahier Central sells books and magazines, many of them in English, along with zines and rare and vintage publications. The shop describes itself as supporting contemporary artists and under-represented work. Its website runs in French and English.

Nuage is a pay-by-the-hour café in the paved courtyard of a former Dominican convent, with unlimited specialty coffee and snacks. Writers who need quiet can take the ten-seat silent zone. Upstairs are alcoves, and private rooms can be booked. It is open daily.

Hubsy is a coworking café where you walk in without booking and pay only for the time you stay, with a capped day rate and a student rate. Drinks and wifi are included, and meeting rooms and call booths can be booked. It is open seven days a week. Sister cafés run at République in the 10e and Saint-Lazare in the 9e.

The free spaces under the 104's great halls are open to everyone, and the Café Caché is on site. The arts center is closed Mondays.

Les Deux Magots has been a literary café since 1884, linked with Sartre, Beauvoir and Picasso. It awards the Prix des Deux Magots each year and holds the Soirées Apollinaire poetry evenings. It opens early and closes after midnight.

Apollinaire used the Flore as his office in the 1910s, and Sartre and Beauvoir worked there during the Occupation. The Prix de Flore for young writers was founded at one of its tables in 1994. Past winners include Michel Houellebecq and Virginie Despentes.

The Closerie counts Verlaine, Hemingway, Picasso and Gide among its past regulars, and its bar is the Bar Hemingway. A pianist still plays there. The brasserie is open daily from noon until past midnight.

Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot were regulars at Le Procope. It is open daily from noon, and on weekday afternoons its café salon takes no reservations.

Spoken Word Paris calls itself the city's longest-running English open mic, and it has met since 2006. Writers read poetry and stories every Monday except in August. AWOL, its free Sunday writers' workshop, gives feedback on writing in progress, and the group publishes an occasional journal, The Bastille. Readings are in English and French. All languages are welcome.

The Maison de la Poésie is a literary stage for readings and author talks, and it runs the Paris en toutes lettres festival. Programming is mainly in French. Past evenings can be replayed online.

The SGDL is France's authors' society. Members can get legal advice, including mediation with a publisher and help checking royalty statements. The society also gives creation grants and prizes, and it works in French.

The Festival du Livre de Paris holds talks on a dozen stages and book signings at the Grand Palais each spring. A professional program serves the book trade, and recorded talks stay available in an online media library. Its programming is in French.

The Paris IAS hosts humanities and social science researchers for fellowships of five to ten months, freed from the duties of academic life. Projects must be interdisciplinary. Its Paris IdeAS lectures are online.

The FMSH funds mobility for postdoctoral and senior researchers in the humanities and social sciences, including Atlas short-term postdoctoral grants. Foreign researchers can stay at its Maison Suger residence. The foundation also funds research projects and networks and has its own press, the Éditions de la MSH.

Researchers book seats and documents ahead through a personal account. A Research Pass opens some of the BnF's electronic resources from home, and librarians take one-to-one appointments in French. The library also runs Gallica, its digital library.

The Fulbright Commission gives grants to U.S. academics and professionals with at least five years' experience to lecture or do research in France, and artists and university administrators can apply too. Core grants cover all disciplines. Regional research grants with French regional governments and the short Fulbright Specialist Program offer other routes.

Biology Open is an open-access journal publishing research across the biological and biomedical sciences. One of its deputy editors is at the Institut Jacques Monod in Paris. Preparing an article for Biology Open

The Centre national du livre's main author grant gives published authors and illustrators time for a writing or illustration project meant for publication. A discovery grant needs one book, a creation grant two, and a sabbatical-year grant a substantial body of work. Applicants write in French or a language of France, whatever their nationality. Teacher-researchers must propose a project outside their research field.

The regional council funds residencies of two to ten months that pair a writer, illustrator, translator or literary critic with a library, school or bookshop in Île-de-France. Alongside a writing project, the author leads literary activity for local readers, with a monthly bursary. Applicants need at least one book from a publisher, or several texts in literary journals, written in or translated into French. The host applies first.

Named for the de Groot family, this fellowship brings writers, thinkers and scholars in any discipline to the American Library in Paris each year. Fellows work on their own projects and give a public program. The library looks for work that advances dialogue and cross-cultural understanding.

The American Library in Paris gives this award each year to a book written and published in English about France or the French. Fiction and nonfiction in all genres are eligible.

The Institute for Ideas and Imagination gives year-long fellowships at Reid Hall with a stipend, an office and access to Columbia's libraries in Paris and Europe. Writers, artists, filmmakers and composers of any nationality can apply if they are not affiliated with Columbia and do not live permanently in the United States. Fellows present their work in the public Rendez-Vous series.

Sorbonne University students will find writing prizes, doctoral funding and tutoring sessions in this guide.

Sciences Po students have their own guide to doctoral funding and thesis rules.

Quintal is an independent risograph print house and publisher that prints books and posters for clients. Its online quote form and printing guide help you prepare a job, and the Print House at 3 rue Albert Marquet opens weekdays by appointment. Saturday workshops teach riso. A binding workshop covers Coptic and spiral notebooks, and the bookshop-gallery opens Wednesday to Saturday afternoons.

Magma is a risograph studio that takes a project from design to print run. Before you send files, download its colour and paper palettes and its practical guide. It also runs workshops and exhibitions.

Paris Ateliers teaches year-long weekly bookbinding classes for adults at every level, from basic structures to decorative and contemporary binding. Classes run Monday to Thursday, mornings, afternoons and evenings. Ask about openings before you plan on a place. Teaching is in French.