A Writer's Guide to Rohnert Park

Sonoma State's library is in the Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center on campus. During the term it is closed Saturdays and stays open late Sunday through Thursday. Community members without a university affiliation can use some services for a fee.

The county library's central branch is in downtown Santa Rosa, about eight miles north, and it is open every day. Request a meeting room online or use a study pod. The E Street Studios are sound studios for recording and editing audio and video, and the Forum Room holds the Central Open Mic on third Saturday afternoons; register in advance.

The county library's research branch holds local history and genealogy resources for Sonoma County, along with the Sonoma County Archives, whose government records go back to the county's founding. Materials stay in the building. Photograph them without flash, or digitize your own in the Playback Memory Lab. It is open Tuesday through Saturday.

Petaluma's library, about eight miles south by the fairgrounds, is a timber-trussed building with a copper roof, open every day. Reserve a meeting room online. The Petaluma History Room is here, and so is a Friends of the Petaluma Library bookstore.

The museum's library and archive hold material on Charles M. Schulz and his career. Students and researchers of any age can use it by appointment, requested through the online Research Request Form. The museum is closed Tuesdays.

Copperfield's, a Sonoma County bookseller, fills more than 10,000 square feet of a restored brick building in downtown Petaluma. The fiction selection is large. Writers will find a section of their own, and one room is given over to magazines. The store hosts author events and is open daily.

Petaluma Underground is the cellar shop directly below Copperfield's Petaluma, with more than 20,000 titles, thousands of them used. It carries fiction and poetry in every genre. It is open daily, later on Fridays and Saturdays.

The Sebastopol store, about eight miles northwest of Rohnert Park, is where Copperfield's began. It stocks every category and hosts author events. It is open daily.

The Montgomery Village store in Santa Rosa has deep fiction and psychology sections and a strong mystery following. There is a café inside, and the store is open daily.

Second Chances is an independent used bookstore in downtown Sebastopol, beside the plaza. Its shelves mix popular titles with unusual ones, and there are armchairs for browsing. The store has hosted author signings and open-mic poetry nights. It is open every day.

Many Rivers sells what it calls tools for spiritual practice, from books on Buddhism and Taoism to loose-leaf teas. It has hosted Thursday-night book launches and talks. The shop is open daily.

SOMO Cowork is on the second floor of the 1500 building at SOMO Village, in southeast Rohnert Park. With a day pass you can drop in and take any open seat, and dedicated desks come with round-the-clock access. There are phone booths for calls and an outdoor deck.

A'Roma Roasters has been a coffeehouse in Santa Rosa's Railroad Square since 1991, and it roasts its own coffee on site. Take an indoor table or sit on the patio. It opens early every day.

Taylor Lane's flagship coffee bar is at The Barlow in Sebastopol and is open daily. Bring a laptop: the Wi-Fi is free, and the Sebastopol location also has a coworking space.

The Warm Puppy Café is inside the Redwood Empire Ice Arena, the Santa Rosa rink Charles M. Schulz built in 1969. It serves local organic coffee and sandwiches, and there is a hot cocoa menu. The Schulz Museum is on the same campus.

Redwood Cafe, about two miles south in Cotati, has been a dining destination for nearly 30 years. It serves breakfast through dinner, seven days a week. Free live music plays Thursday through Saturday evenings, and work by local artists rotates on the walls.

Redwood Writers calls itself the largest of the California Writers Club's 21 branches, and its motto is "writers helping writers." Monthly meetings are held at the Finley Center in Santa Rosa on third Saturday mornings. Members also meet in the Circle and Salon groups on fourth Saturdays. The club puts on the Sonoma County Writers Conference, and its "Get Lit" program airs on KRSH radio.

The Sonoma County Literary Update is a newsletter and online calendar built from announcements sent in by the county's literary community. A poet and a fiction writer co-edit it. Its calendar carries readings and open mics. The site also keeps a directory of local writers and posts calls for submissions, and an update goes out by email each month.

The Petaluma Poetry Walk is a one-day festival held each September. Over the course of a Sunday, poets read at venues across downtown Petaluma.

West Side Stories is a true-storytelling show at the Polly Klaas Community Theater in Petaluma on the second Wednesday of each month. Each month has a theme. Ten names come out of a hat, and each teller gets five minutes to tell a true personal story by heart, without notes. The audience votes for the winner, and each December the monthly winners meet for a grand slam at the Mystic Theatre.

Sebastopol Center for the Arts runs a literary program beside its galleries. Poetry Lives! is a monthly workshop and open mic on fourth Tuesday evenings. At the monthly Writers' Salon, held on a Thursday afternoon, writers read work aloud and get feedback; it keeps a waitlist. The center also holds Poetic Medicine in Community sessions and poetry readings through the year.

Special Collections holds the Jack London Collection and the Jack London in Context Collection, along with the Gaye LeBaron Collection of Sonoma County history. Environmental historians can work through North Bay papers, among them those of the Sierra Club Redwood Chapter and Bill Kortum. The North Bay Ethnic Archive and the Ruben Salazar Collection are here too. Contact the library or make an appointment to see them.

California Humanities is the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Its grant programs are Connecting California and the California Documentary Project.

The Journal of Emergency Nursing is the peer-reviewed journal of the Emergency Nurses Association, published six times a year. It carries original research and updates from the specialty. Its editor-in-chief is on the faculty of Sonoma State University's School of Nursing in Rohnert Park. Preparing an article for the Journal of Emergency Nursing

The California Arts Council's fellowship recognizes California artists in any art form, at tiers from Emerging to Legacy. Artists apply through a regional organization. For Sonoma County and the rest of the Bay Area, that is Kala Art Institute.

The Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California gives these awards each year for books by authors living in California. Its categories run from fiction and poetry to Californiana and books for young readers.

Stanford's Creative Writing Program gives this two-year, non-degree fellowship to writers of fiction and poetry. Fellows meet in a weekly workshop and live close to campus. No degree or published book is required.

Creative Sonoma, a division of the Sonoma County Economic Development Collaborative in Santa Rosa, opens these grants when it has relief or recovery money after a local disaster. They go to creatives and to creative organizations and businesses.

Sonoma State students can find grants and writing resources gathered for them on this Editors For Students guide.

North Bay Letterpress Arts in Sebastopol is a center for teaching and practicing letterpress printing, with nine presses and more than 200 typefaces. Learn in a public workshop, or set your own project during open studio hours with an hourly pass or a monthly membership. The shop has produced 243 books. It also hosts poetry readings and book launches.