A Writer's Guide to Sheffield

Sheffield's main public library occupies a Grade II listed building and opens Monday to Saturday, late on Wednesdays. Upstairs, the Local Studies Library keeps open shelves and catalogues you can browse freely. Some specialist collections need a library card or reader registration.

The City Archives search room is about ten minutes' walk from Central Library and opens Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays. Register as a reader on your first visit. Only pencils are allowed, and bags go in lockers. Some collections are stored off site, so contact the team before you go.

Adults from outside the university can use Western Bank Library's printed collections and reading spaces for reference, and external membership is available by application. Special Collections has its reading room on level 4, open Monday to Thursday. Book through the consultation form at least three working days ahead and bring ID. The National Fairground and Circus Archive is open to all researchers too.

Playwrights and theatre historians will find the Sheffield Theatres Archive here, along with the John Widdowson Folklore Collection and the Roy Hattersley Archive. Viewing is by appointment on Mondays, with at least 48 hours' notice. External users book through their own form.

La Biblioteka has been a bookshop, kiosk and cultural space in the city centre since 2016. Its magazine shelves range from cycling to philosophy, and the shop runs events.

Juno Books is a feminist and queer community bookshop on Chapel Walk. It stocks independent publishers and authors who are women, queer, disabled or working class, among others. Authors give talks and launch books here, and book groups meet in the shop and online. It closes on Mondays.

Hillsborough Bookshop is a neighborhood shop with a strong focus on children's books and a storytime. It also runs a book club and takes special orders. Core hours are Wednesday to Saturday.

Rhyme & Reason has sold books at Hunter's Bar since 1999. It began with children's and teen books and now stocks for all ages, with a particular interest in contemporary poetry and fiction. It opens daily.

Robin's Nest was founded in 2014 to bring diverse comics to a wider audience, and its Sheffield shop sets out to be a welcoming space for newcomers to comics. Board games and tabletop RPGs are sold here too. It closes Sundays and Mondays.

Work Station offers desk space in the Showroom's café bar, booked ahead or taken on the day, and rents meeting rooms set up for hybrid calls. The café serves a seasonal menu. The cinema in the same building runs film festivals and screenings with filmmaker Q&As.

Cutlery Works is a food hall with 13 kitchens and a co-working area. The wifi is free and fast, and there are plenty of power sockets. It opens daily.

Shut Up & Write! Sheffield meets on Wednesday evenings at the HYGGE café, and joining is free. Look for the red snorkel on the table. After everyone sets an intention, the group writes in silence for 90 minutes and then checks in. The café does not charge for the space, so order something.

Kollective Kitchen is the café inside Site Gallery, Sheffield's international contemporary art space, and it opens before the galleries do. Both close on Mondays.

Ambulo serves coffee and grilled cheese sandwiches inside the Millennium Gallery, home of the Guild of St George's Ruskin Collection. The collection's changing displays explore the ideas of John Ruskin, the Victorian writer and artist. Exhibitions are free, and the gallery closes on Mondays.

The Crucible's café serves freshly prepared lunches Monday to Saturday and stays open until the evening performance begins. On selected Friday and Saturday evenings it offers three-course pre-show dining.

Tamper is a café and licensed bar in a whitewashed 19th-century former silversmiths' works. It serves Australasian-inspired breakfasts and lunches every day. Book a table through the website.

Off the Shelf brings local and international writers to Sheffield each October. It began in 1992 with the city's libraries, and the University of Sheffield has delivered it since 2017. The festival has run workshops and masterclasses for emerging writers, and through Text in the City it puts poetry and prose on Sheffield's walls and pavements.

The Poetry Business is a publisher and writer development agency on Campo Lane. It runs writing days and workshops for poets and publishes The North, a magazine that comes out twice a year.

The Digital Humanities Institute runs research projects funded by bodies such as the AHRC and the Leverhulme Trust, and it builds project websites. It publishes data and books and runs the Digital Humanities Congress. Graduate study includes an MSc in Data and Digital Humanities and PhD research.

White Rose University Press is a not-for-profit open access publisher run jointly by the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. It publishes peer-reviewed books and journals in fields from the arts to medicine, and it welcomes proposals from the wider academic community. Authors keep their copyright under Creative Commons licences.

And Other Stories publishes contemporary writing, much of it in translation. Literary fiction is its focus, and the list has added poetry and literary nonfiction such as essays. Its office is in Sheffield Central Library.

Smith|Doorstop is The Poetry Business's imprint for poetry books, pamphlets and audio. Its series include the New Poets List and Laureate's Choice.

International Nursing Review is the peer-reviewed journal of the International Council of Nurses and appears four times a year. It publishes original articles on nursing and health policy, including professional regulation and patient safety. Its editor-in-chief is at the University of Sheffield. Preparing an article for International Nursing Review

Arts Council England's Developing Your Creative Practice fund supports individual creative practitioners as they learn, innovate and take creative risks. It opens for applications in rounds.

Project Grants is Arts Council England's open access programme for arts, libraries and museums projects. Individual practitioners can apply as well as organisations.

New Writing North's awards look for unpublished work in progress by writers across the North of England, Yorkshire included. Prizes cover fiction, narrative nonfiction and poetry. Further awards go to children's and young adult novels and to writing for television.

The Poetry Business runs two competitions from Sheffield. Poets at any stage of their career can enter the International Book & Pamphlet Competition, and winners are published by Smith|Doorstop and in The North. The New Poets Prize is for poets aged 17 to 24 without a book-length collection; winners receive editorial support toward a Smith|Doorstop pamphlet.

This page gathers grants and writing resources for University of Sheffield students.

Sheffield Hallam's print shop serves everyone, the general public included, and external customers order through their own link. It cloth-binds PhD and MPhil theses. Thermal, wire and channel binding are done while you wait, on weekdays.

Carousel Print Studio is a printmaking charity that welcomes people with all levels of experience to its courses and open-access sessions. Membership is affordable, and the studio is an accessible ground-floor space.