A Writer's Guide to Philadelphia: Libraries, Bookstores, Writing Groups, and Presses

Parkway Central is the Free Library's main branch, with study rooms and meeting space you can reserve. Its Rare Book Department holds Dickens first editions and letters, and Grip, the stuffed raven that belonged to Dickens. Poe materials are there too. The Theatre Collection and the Children's Literature Research Collection are in the same building. Email the Rare Book Department before you plan a visit.

Benjamin Franklin founded the Library Company in 1731, and scholars now use it as a research library. Its programs center on African American history and women's history, along with the early American economy and visual culture. Book the reading room online. Its book talks are free.

Penn keeps its rare books and manuscripts on the sixth floor of Van Pelt, in the Kislak Center. The center is open to the public, and its Guide to Research explains how the reading room works. Some public programs, such as Coffee with a Codex, are held online.

The Athenaeum is a member library in a National Historic Landmark building, and its research archive includes an Architecture, Building & Design collection. Research is by appointment. It is closed Sundays.

The Rosenbach holds Joyce's manuscript of Ulysses and nearly all of Marianne Moore's papers, along with her personal library and her Greenwich Village living room. Anyone can study the collections by appointment. The galleries close Monday through Wednesday.

Head House is an independent bookstore that stocks children's and young adult books alongside its general shelves. Authors read and launch books here on many evenings. It is open daily.

A Novel Idea carries plenty of fantasy and horror next to its general fiction, and it keeps shelves of Philly authors and books about the city. It hosts readings and signings, plus a fiction book club and a myth-and-legend club. The shop is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Big Blue Marble sells "Diverse Books for a Neighborhood of Readers" in Mt. Airy Village. Author and poetry readings often fall on Saturday afternoons or weeknights. It is closed Mondays.

Jeannine A. Cook opened Harriett's in 2020 to celebrate women authors, artists, and activists, and the shop sets out its books like works of art. Cook tells the store's story in her memoir, Shut Up and Read.

Giovanni's Room calls itself the country's oldest running queer and feminist bookstore. Philly AIDS Thrift runs it now. LGBTQ+ authors read here, and the Philly Queer Book Club meets on the first Thursday of each month.

Marc Lamont Hill founded Uncle Bobbie's in 2017 as a Black-owned bookstore and café. Its author talks and workshops are free. It is also the official bookseller for the Free Library's author events.

Little Yenta sells only used books, with a focus on literary fiction, poetry, theory, and history. It buys books too; email photos first. Its clubs include a short story club and Style & Craft, which looks at voice and stylistic choices. The store is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

House of Our Own sells general and scholarly books, new and used, from a shop on the edge of Penn's campus. The shelves are well organized.

Penn calls the Writers House an open house for writers. It stays open into the evening most days.

Indy Hall has run as a coworking space since 2006. Plans go month to month, from two days a month up to unlimited, and guests can book a day pass to try it. Every plan comes with phone and meeting room credits. Tours are free on weekdays.

La Colombe roasts its coffee in Philadelphia, and its Fishtown café opens early every morning.

Elixr's Center City café is on Sydenham, a small side street off Walnut. It is open daily.

Chris' has live jazz most nights, and many shows come with a three-course dinner package. Lunch runs Tuesday through Friday. The club is closed Sundays and Mondays.

SOUTH pairs an upscale Southern restaurant with a jazz club. Book dinner through Resy; shows are ticketed, and the club asks for dressy or business casual clothes.

McGillin's has been open since 1860 and calls itself Philadelphia's oldest continuously operating tavern. The second floor hosts a weekly open mic night, and there is live karaoke on other nights.

Most Free Library author events take place at Parkway Central, where writers talk about their books, often in conversation with a moderator. Some are free; others are ticketed.

Readings and conversations fill the Writers House calendar, and most take place in the Arts Café. The Speakeasy open mic welcomes listeners as well as readers. Each year the Fellows program brings three writers for extended visits. Register ahead for most in-person events.

Blue Stoop, a community-led nonprofit founded in 2018, teaches low-cost classes in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid writing. Financial aid is available. Its public events are free, and its community calendar tracks literary events across the city.

The Rosenbach offers courses and signature programs alongside its research appointments. Each June it holds a Bloomsday festival for Joyce's Ulysses.

Philadelphia Stories has published a free quarterly magazine of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and art since 2004, with work by writers and artists from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. It also runs workshops and a Pitch Fest.

Through its Manuscript Development Workshops, the Wolf Center brings a senior scholar to campus to workshop a Penn humanities faculty member's book manuscript. It also offers Mellon postdoctoral fellowships on an annual theme, along with Penn and regional faculty fellowships. Each year the Forum takes up one theme, with programs open to the community.

The American Philosophical Society funds noncommercial research by individual scholars. Franklin Research Grants cover research costs for work headed toward publication, and the Phillips Fund supports Native American research. Doctoral students can apply for the John Hope Franklin Dissertation Fellowship. The Library has short-term and long-term fellowships of its own.

The Library Company awards research fellowships through its academic programs.

Temple University Libraries publish journals through Publishing Services, and North Broad Press, an open-access imprint shared with Temple University Press, puts out books and textbooks. The staff answers questions about academic publishing options. There is also an Open Access Publishing Fund.

PA Humanities is the statewide humanities council, and its office is on South Broad Street. It makes grants through its Grant Portal, Rain Poetry grants among them, and runs the PA Cultural Exchange, a statewide fellowship for cultural practitioners.

Temple University Press calls itself the City of Philadelphia's publisher, and its list documents the civic and cultural life of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley. Scholarly books in urban studies and Asian American studies share the list with sports titles and memoirs. Preparing a manuscript for Temple University Press

Penn Press publishes more than 100 new books a year and more than 25 journals. American history and culture is one of its strengths; urban studies and international human rights are others. Preparing a manuscript for University of Pennsylvania Press

Lippincott began as J. B. Lippincott & Co., a Philadelphia publisher founded in 1836, and is now a medical and health publishing brand of Wolters Kluwer Health. It publishes textbooks and reference works along with more than 275 journals, most of them in medicine or public health. Preparing a manuscript for Lippincott

F.A. Davis is an independent Philadelphia publisher of textbooks and reference books for the health professions. Its flagship titles are Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary and Davis's Drug Guide for Nurses. Preparing a manuscript for F.A. Davis

Elsevier has a Philadelphia office on Market Street. Its health division publishes medical and nursing education materials and clinical references, along with books and journals. Preparing a manuscript for Elsevier Health Sciences

Quirk Books has published entertaining, unconventional books for adults and children since 2002. Its list includes Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Preparing a manuscript for Quirk Books

The Jewish Publication Society publishes The JPS TANAKH and Bible commentaries, along with history, philosophy, literature, and children's books. It is based at Adath Jeshurun in Melrose Park, just north of the city line.

The Journal of Urban Health publishes interdisciplinary research on what shapes health and health inequities in cities, to inform city policy and programs. Its co-editors-in-chief, Ana Diez-Roux and Usama Bilal, are at Drexel's Dornsife School of Public Health. Preparing an article for the Journal of Urban Health

Law and Human Behavior publishes empirical research on how people behave within legal systems. It is the journal of the American Psychology-Law Society, and its editor, David DeMatteo, is on the faculty at Drexel. Preparing an article for Law and Human Behavior

This Wiley journal covers geriatric and gerontological nursing, from research and clinical care to policy. Its editor, Sarah H. Kagan, is a professor at Penn's School of Nursing. Preparing an article for the International Journal of Older People Nursing

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage awards twelve unrestricted fellowships a year to artists living in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties. Applicants must be at least two years out of school or have equivalent experience, and they apply by nomination only.

Leeway supports women, trans, and gender-nonconforming artists doing art and social change work in Greater Philadelphia, including Camden County. The Art and Change Grant funds projects. The Transformation Award goes to artists with five or more years of that work behind them.

The state arts council gives these grants to people running a for-profit creative micro-business in Pennsylvania, and publishing is one of the eligible fields. Bridgeway Capital administers them through the Keystone Creatives site.

Blue Stoop and author Jennifer Weiner run this fellowship for woman-identified emerging prose writers in the United States. Fellows receive financial support and mentorship, and they join a cohort.

Philadelphia Stories runs both national prizes every year, one for short fiction and one for poetry.

This page gathers research grants, prizes, and writing support for Penn students.

Temple students have the same guide for their campus.

Drexel students will find their school's grants and writing resources here.

Saint Joseph's has its own page in the series.

Villanova students can start here.

Members get studio access at this nonprofit community print shop. Its classes cover letterpress and screen printing as well as risograph. It is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Penn's letterpress and bookmaking studio has Vandercook proof presses and an 1860s Washington hand press, with about 300 fonts of metal and wood type to set. Its bookbinding workshops are free and open to all. Only trained PennCard holders can use the studio on their own.