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

Central Library is Vancouver Public Library's downtown branch. On the third floor, the free Inspiration Lab has recording studios and stations for creating and digitizing work. Cardholders can book up to three hours a day, as far as two weeks ahead, and walk-ins are welcome.

The Kitsilano branch has meeting rooms and assistive equipment, including adjustable desks. Writers who dictate can use its Dragon NaturallySpeaking software.

Rare Books and Special Collections is strong in BC history and in Canadian and English literature, and it holds early children's books too. The reading room in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre works by appointment. Book at least 24 hours ahead during weekday business hours; it is closed weekends.

The Archives' reading room in Vanier Park is open to everyone for research on weekdays. Its holdings document the city's history and everyday life. Search the digitized records online before you go.

SFU Archives is at Simon Fraser University's Burnaby campus. Holdings include the Adbusters Media Foundation fonds and Arthur Erickson material, and the full catalogue is on the SFU AtoM portal. The reading room opens Tuesday to Friday, with Mondays by appointment.

Massy Books is 100% Indigenous owned and operated. Its shelves mix rare and out-of-print books with current bestsellers. It is open daily.

The Paper Hound calls itself a new, used and rare book store, and it buys books as well. It is open daily.

Little Sister's has been Davie Village's queer bookstore since 1983, stocked with 2SLGBTQIA+ books. Readings and community gatherings happen in the store.

Lucky's stocks comics and zines alongside books, small-press titles and graphic novels among them. Join its email list to hear about launches.

Spartacus is a nonprofit bookstore and resource centre that volunteers have run as a collective since 1973. It stocks radical theory and feminist titles. It also runs a Books to Prisoners program and Radical Readings, a free drop-in reading series.

Upstart & Crow is an independent bookshop that shares its space with a not-for-profit literary studio of the same name. The studio puts on poetry evenings and book launches. The shop is closed Mondays.

49th Parallel's Main Street café is open daily, a short walk along Main from Lucky's Books and Comics. The roaster has two more Vancouver cafés, downtown on Thurlow Street and in Kitsilano on West 4th Avenue.

Elysian's roastery café has tables by tall windows. Its other cafés are in Fairview, Kitsilano, and downtown.

JJ Bean's Powell Street café is furnished with vintage and antique decor. It shares a building with the company's roastery and wholesale headquarters.

At the campus café, wood-enclosed stairs lead to several kinds of seating. In good weather, take a table on the large front patio.

The Museum of Anthropology's café sits up the ramp from the admission desk. From mid-October to mid-May the museum is closed Mondays.

1931 Gallery Bistro is the Vancouver Art Gallery's restaurant. The gallery is closed Tuesdays and stays open late on Fridays.

Frankie's serves dinner with live jazz and blues, seven shows a week from Wednesday to Sunday.

The Vancouver Writers Fest is a literary nonprofit whose week-long festival centres on Granville Island, with events at venues across the city and online. Through the year it runs the Books & Ideas series and Incite, a free reading series held with Vancouver Public Library at Central Library. My Roots is its writing workshop for new immigrants.

Word Vancouver is a free literary festival in downtown Vancouver. Authors and publishers from across British Columbia come for panels and workshops, and exhibitors take part.

Vancouver Poetry House describes itself as the largest spoken word organization in Canada. Its Vancouver Poetry Slam is an open-stage series with a headlining performer, and it also runs the Verses Festival of Words. WordPlay Poets lead workshops in schools and communities.

The Alcuin Society, founded in Vancouver for lovers of books and fine printing, has promoted Canadian book design since 1965. It publishes Amphora and gives the national Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada. Recordings of its lectures by book artists are online.

The Federation of BC Writers runs online courses and writing circles. Its professional directory lists writers, editors, and designers, and it publishes the magazine WordWorks.

Since 1983 the Institute for the Humanities has brought humanistic perspectives to social and political problems, among others, for audiences beyond the university. It hosts visiting fellows and the J. S. Woodsworth Chair in the Humanities, along with the Grace MacInnis Visiting Scholar. Lectures and symposia are part of the program. The institute publishes the journal Contours.

The Public Knowledge Project, a core facility of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, develops free, open-source publishing software: Open Journal Systems, Open Monograph Press, and Open Preprint Systems. Anyone starting a journal or a small press can use it. PKP also hosts journals and presses and offers training and consulting.

Green College is an interdisciplinary residential college that runs a season of free public lectures and performances. Visiting scholars and artists come through its invited lectureships and residencies, among them the Patricia Merivale Scholar in Residence and the Yosef Wosk Artist in Residence. UBC graduate students and postdoctoral scholars can apply to live there.

Talonbooks publishes poetry, drama, Quebec literature in translation, and books committed to social justice, along with fiction and non-fiction. It began in 1963 as Talon, a poetry magazine at Magee High School. By 1967 it had decided to become a book publisher.

UBC Press is the University of British Columbia's scholarly press. Its list covers Indigenous studies and British Columbia history, with titles in law, politics, military history, and queer studies.

Anvil Press publishes contemporary Canadian literature "with a distinctly urban twist," as the press puts it, and keeps its East Vancouver roots. Fiction, poetry, and drama sit on the list with non-fiction and art and photography.

The Journal of Criminal Justice publishes international research on how the parts of the justice system interact, and it favours work that brings in new disciplines or analytical methods. Editor-in-Chief Eric Beauregard is in Simon Fraser University's School of Criminology in Burnaby. Preparing an article for Journal of Criminal Justice

The Journal of International Business Studies, the official publication of the Academy of International Business, publishes multidisciplinary research across international business studies. Its Editor-in-Chief, Rosalie L. Tung, is at Simon Fraser University's Beedie School of Business in Burnaby. Preparing an article for Journal of International Business Studies

The BC Arts Council's Creative Writers grants support B.C.-based writers and literary artists on new projects for book-length publication or public performance. Two or more artists who share creative control can apply together.

The Canada Council for the Arts supports Canadian artists, groups, and arts organizations through this component, from a work's first idea to its public presentation. Apply any time before your project starts.

The West Coast Book Prize Society gives these prizes to writers, illustrators, and publishers in British Columbia and the Yukon. Fiction goes to the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and poetry to the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. The Jim Deva Prize for Writing That Provokes is among the others.

The City of Vancouver supports this award for a book in any genre that reflects the city's character, history, or residents. The City and the West Coast Book Prize Society take entries together.

This page gathers UBC research positions, essay prizes, and graduate fellowships, with guidance on writing and thesis submission.

The Simon Fraser University page covers summer research awards and thesis prizes, along with writing consultations.

Moniker Press is a risograph print studio and publishing project that prints small editions of books, zines, and ephemera. It helps with file setup and gives estimates. Visits are by appointment or during open studio events and workshops.

Publication Studio Vancouver prints and binds books on demand and makes original work with artists and writers. It belongs to the international Publication Studio network.

Malaspina is a printmaking studio with round-the-clock shared equipment access at sliding-scale rates. It teaches classes and workshops and runs mentorships and public exhibitions. There is a second location downtown at 1265 Howe Street.