A Writer's Guide to South Bend and Notre Dame

The Main Library has twelve study rooms on its second floor that you can reserve, from rooms for two up to a 12-seat room overlooking the Children's Area. For larger groups, the library's Community Learning Center has an auditorium and six classrooms. The Library Foundation Bookstore shares the second floor.

Visitors may use Hesburgh's main collections and services until evening, when the building is reserved for Notre Dame students, faculty and staff. Thirteen research workstations need no NetID, and the guest Wi-Fi is open. Visitors can scan but cannot print. Ask about a Special Borrower's Card, or request items three business days ahead and the library will hold them for use in the building.

Rare Books and Special Collections is open to the public, off-campus researchers included. Register in Aeon to request materials and book an appointment; the reading room is open weekdays. Its strengths include Irish studies and Catholic studies. Theology and church history are collected as well, along with Italian literature and a collection on sports and physical culture.

The Archives hold Notre Dame's university records along with manuscripts, photographs and audiovisual collections that document Catholic life in America. Write before you visit. Many collections are stored off site and take a day or two to retrieve. The reading room, open weekdays, keeps Catholic reference works such as the Official Catholic Directory.

Sarah Bird and Ken Peczkowski founded Griffon in 1976, and it bills itself as the oldest game store in Indiana. The books lean toward classical literature, philosophy and theology, and history, military history included. It also sells board games and chess and Go sets. The store is open every day.

Kathy Burnette founded Brain Lair, where most of the stock is by authors from historically underrepresented communities. It runs several book clubs.

The St. Joe County Public Library Foundation sells withdrawn library materials and community donations here at a discount. The store keeps the Main Library's hours.

Cloud Walking roasts its coffee on site and makes syrups in house. People bring laptops to the back room. The café is open daily.

Counterspell is Cloud Walking's second café, a bright room with a sofa corner.

The General Deli & Cafe occupies the East Bank's old General Store and is open seven days a week. Its coffee is locally roasted, and the soups are made in house.

Java Cafe is locally owned and serves coffee with breakfast, lunch and fresh bakery items. At night the room becomes the Sidebar bar. Java is closed Sundays.

Ivan's, off the central atrium of the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, serves coffee and pastries with a seasonal menu of sandwiches and salads. Books for sale stand in cabinets outside the café, and you pay for them inside. Museum admission is free, and the museum is closed Mondays.

Fiddler's Hearth is a Celtic public house that calls itself a gathering place for Celtic artists and the public. It has a fireplace and plenty of books and board games. Bring an instrument to the open traditional Irish music session, or a song to the Open Acoustic Stage. The pub opens every day.

Chicory Cafe serves muffulettas and beignets New Orleans style, along with coffee and cocktails. It stays open into the evening Tuesday through Friday, with live music and a chess club on the calendar. A second Chicory is by the river on First Street in Mishawaka.

Notre Dame's Creative Writing Program brings writers and translators to campus for readings in the Decio English Commons. A Q&A and book signing follow, and Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore sells the books on site. The program also holds author conversations and craft events.

The English department at Saint Mary's College, across the road from Notre Dame, brings writers to its campus for public readings each academic year.

Each year the South Bend Museum of Art asks poets of any age to write in response to selected works in its galleries. The poems chosen go into a commemorative chapbook. Their poets read them aloud in the galleries.

Once a year the University of Notre Dame Press sets up in the Hesburgh Library with discounted overstock and signed books, along with author events. The festival is free and open to the Notre Dame and South Bend community.

The Cushwa Center awards research grants to scholars of American Catholicism. It also runs the Newberry Seminar and a History of Women Religious program, and it publishes the American Catholic Studies Newsletter.

The Medieval Institute is Notre Dame's center for the study of medieval culture. Its external fellowships include a Mellon Fellowship that brings a junior faculty member to Notre Dame for a year of research. Two postdoctoral fellowships support work in Byzantine studies and, through the Abbot Astrik L. Gabriel fellowship, in the history of universities and education. The institute also sponsors working groups and lectures.

The Navari Family Center supports faculty and students who use digital methods in their research and teaching. Its workshops cover tools such as Zotero and ATLAS.ti.

Indiana Humanities funds public humanities projects run by Indiana nonprofits. It also runs statewide literary programs, among them the Indiana Authors Awards and Proof: A Midwest Lit Fest.

The University of Notre Dame Press has published from campus since 1949, mainly in the humanities and traditional social sciences. Its list runs from theology and medieval studies to Irish and Latin American studies, and it also publishes original short fiction and poetry. Studies in the Age of Chaucer carries its imprint.

Johannes Göransson and Joyelle McSweeney of Notre Dame's Creative Writing Program edit Action Books. The independent press is dedicated to international writing and hybrid forms, with Korean, Latin American and Scandinavian literature series.

42 Miles Press publishes poetry from the Department of English at Indiana University South Bend, with David Dodd Lee as series editor. Each year it publishes the winner of its poetry award. Wolfson Press sells its books.

American Quarterly has been the American Studies Association's journal since 1952. It publishes interdisciplinary work on the United States and the wider Americas, with particular attention to Indigenous studies and transnational approaches. Editor Jason Ruiz is at Notre Dame, where the journal keeps its editorial office. Preparing an article for American Quarterly

Religion & Literature publishes essays, forums and book reviews on religion and literature, taking literary forms of any era, place or language. It comes out three times a year. Susannah Monta edits the journal, and its office is in Notre Dame's Decio Hall. Preparing an article for Religion & Literature

Sociology of Education is the American Sociological Association's journal on how social institutions, and people's experiences in them, shape education and social development. It takes all stages of education and all methods. Editors William Carbonaro and Anna Haskins are at Notre Dame. Preparing an article for Sociology of Education

Studies in the Age of Chaucer is the New Chaucer Society's yearbook, with articles, reviews and a bibliography of recent criticism on later medieval Britain. Co-editor Michelle Karnes is in Notre Dame's English department; Misty Schieberle co-edits from the University of Kansas. Preparing an article for Studies in the Age of Chaucer

Eugene and Marilyn Glick established the Indiana Authors Awards in 2009 to honor Hoosier authors. Indiana Humanities now administers them as a biennial honor.

The Indiana Arts Commission administers this honorary two-year post. The laureate visits schools and libraries and advises the Commission on advancing poetry in the state.

The Indiana Arts Commission's On-Ramp, designed by Elaine Grogan Luttrull of Minerva Financial Arts, is for early-career creatives building a portfolio career. The program begins with a three-day intensive on entrepreneurship and community engagement. Afterward, participants can apply for project funding.

42 Miles Press gives this award each year for a full-length poetry manuscript and publishes the winning collection. Series editor David Dodd Lee judges.

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

Bloom Press is a design and letterpress studio in a former dry-cleaning factory that now holds artists' studios. It takes custom letterpress jobs and will print a client's design, with blind embossing and foil available. Join the mailing list to hear about workshops.

Studio 304 is the library's maker space. For manuscript pages or old photographs, its Epson 12000XL scanner works at 4800 dpi. The studio also prints in color and in large format up to 24 inches, and it has Adobe Creative Cloud workstations. Cardholders can book the recording rooms in two-hour blocks. The studio is closed Sundays.