A Writer's Guide to Springfield, Missouri

The Library Center is the headquarters of the library district and holds its local history and genealogy collections. Writers can work in one of its four private study rooms, and five small conference rooms suit a critique group. The Springfield Writers' Guild meets here each month. It is open daily.

Park Central is a small branch on the downtown square, run as an arts- and media-themed library. It has gallery walls and a laptop bar, and you can print and scan here. The Coffee Ethic is next door. The branch closes on Sundays.

Midtown Carnegie opened as a Carnegie library in 1905, at the corner of Central Street and Jefferson Avenue, and has since been restored. Wooden library tables and reading chairs fill its rooms. Some rooms suit quiet study and others a large meeting, and book discussions turn up on the library calendar. It is closed Sundays.

The State Historical Society runs this research center with Missouri State. Its manuscripts and photographs cover southern Missouri and the Ozarks, with strengths in Missourians in the Civil War and Route 66. Collections held at other SHSMO centers can be transferred here in one to three weeks. It is open Tuesday through Friday.

Missouri State's libraries lend to the community. Community Borrower card holders can check out general-collection books with a government photo ID. Special Collections and University Archives, in Meyer Library Room 306, holds Ozarkiana and the Ozarks Labor Union Archives for use in the building. Ask the archivists about collections that are not listed.

The Story House sells books and gifts from an 1897 house on Walnut Street. Its partners include a retired rhetoric professor and a writer-filmmaker. Author talks and writers' groups meet here, and poets can watch for its poetry experiments. It is closed Mondays.

Joshua Arnett opened Bookmarx in 2014 and now co-owns it with Harvey Day-Arnett. It sells used and new books, and the shop keeps resident cats. Author talks and book clubs meet in The Footnote, its event space. Watch for zine and bookbinding workshops. It is open daily.

Laurali Carroll opened One More Page on Historic Commercial Street in 2026. Romance and historical fiction are strengths, along with LGBTQ+ titles and autobiographies. Dogs are welcome.

ABC Books is a family-owned used bookstore on historic Route 66, and it has served Springfield since 1989. Alongside mainstream fiction it carries rare antique prints and a section for Greek and Hebrew studies. Authors sign here from time to time.

Hooked On Books has sold used books since 1986. Collectors can browse a rare books section. The store buys and trades books for cash or store credit.

Big Momma's has served coffee and espresso on C-Street since 2007. Sandwiches and soups are on the menu, and the shop stays open into the evening most days, so a session can run past dinner. Groups can reserve the back room, Momma's Back Porch. It is open daily.

The Coffee Ethic sits on the downtown square next door to the Park Central branch library. Draft at the library's laptop bar and print there, then come over for a drink and a pastry. The library's own page sends patrons this way.

Kingdom began in 2009 and roasts its own beans. The downtown cafe also serves burritos and ramen, so a long session can stretch through lunch. Its other shops are on North Washington Avenue in Midtown and on South Lone Pine Avenue.

Missouri State's efactory works with business owners and entrepreneurs from a downtown building, and it sells coworking day passes. A day pass suits a writer who needs a full day away from home. Monthly memberships and private offices are available too.

Lindberg's bills itself as Springfield's oldest tavern, and the city's tourism bureau dates it to 1870. The kitchen makes pub fare from local ingredients and serves brunch on Sundays. Live music runs regularly, from local acts to national ones. It takes no reservations.

Poets should know this bar. Nathan P. Murphy's hosts a monthly poetry slam on the last Sunday of the month. The Downtown Springfield Association lists it as downtown's longest-running live music venue, with bands on its Murfdome stage.

The Springfield Writers' Guild formed in 1943 to help writers grow and get published, and it calls itself one of the largest writing groups in the Ozarks. Members meet at The Library Center on the fourth Saturday of each month, except December. Mentor Hour gives critique of members' work, and genre groups offer more specialized help. The guild is a chapter of the Missouri Writers' Guild.

The Missouri Writers' Guild, founded in 1915, serves writers in all genres and takes members from anywhere. Its chapters around the state meet regularly for talks by published writers and craft instruction. The Guild also runs an annual writing conference and publishes member anthologies.

Moon City Press sponsors both series with Missouri State's English department and College of Arts and Letters, bringing visiting and Missouri authors to read on campus. Every reading is free and open to the public. The press also runs an online reading series.

The Missouri Center for the Book is the state affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book, run by Missouri Humanities. Each year it picks two Missouri books, one for adults and one for young readers, to represent the state at the National Book Festival. It also holds an annual regional book festival.

The Ozarks Studies Institute, an initiative of the Missouri State University Libraries, works to preserve the history and culture of the Ozarks. It publishes the Ozarks Book Series and OzarksWatch magazine. Among the university collections it brings forward are the Lederer Collection of African-American Heritage in the Ozarks and the Max Hunter and McCann folk music collections. It also sponsors speakers and conferences.

This center in Missouri State's English department, approved in 2016, works with teachers from kindergarten through college, and with faculty in every discipline, on the teaching of writing. It houses the Ozarks Writing Project, the National Writing Project site for the southern half of Missouri. At its Summer Invitational Institute, teachers write and share classroom practice.

Missouri Humanities offers Mini Grants and Major Grants, and literacy festivals and programs are among its funding priorities. It also runs workshops and anthologies for veterans' stories. Groups can book a speaker through it.

Moon City Press is the literary press of Missouri State's English department, where students gain publication experience. It publishes the Missouri Author Series, the Ozarks Studies series and the literary journal Moon City Review. Each year it also awards book prizes in short fiction and poetry.

Gospel Publishing House provides Christian churches with curriculum and ministry resources. Bibles and books sit in its catalog beside the Radiant Life Sunday School curriculum and Bible studies for women.

Theatre Survey, chartered by the American Society for Theatre Research, publishes performance-centered and historiographic studies of theatre and treats oral, visual and written accounts as archival sources. It is edited at Missouri State University in Springfield. Preparing an article for Theatre Survey

The State Historical Society's Missouri History Book Award recognizes the best book on the history of Missouri and Missourians, and its Eagleton-Waters Book Award goes to a book on the state's political history. The Gary R. Kremer Center for Missouri Studies Fellowships support research in underexplored areas of Missouri history and culture. Each fellow writes a scholarly essay.

Moon City Press runs both book competitions every year. Each winner receives a cash prize, and the press publishes the winning manuscript as a book. The Short Fiction Award has been given since 2014.

The Springfield Writers' Guild runs a summer writing contest and a fall writing contest.

The Missouri Writers' Guild holds an annual contest that recognizes its members' best writing. Each category awards cash prizes and certificates.

The Missouri Arts Council presents the state's honors for lasting contributions to the arts. An independent statewide panel of arts community representatives picks the honorees. Individual Artist is one of the categories.

Multi Printing was established in 1973 and runs offset and digital presses, along with letterpress. Its bindery services cover perfect-bound and saddle-stitched books, and designers are on staff. Bring it a chapbook or a bound manuscript.