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

You can book meeting and study rooms at DC Public Library's central branch, which also has printing and scanning. On the fourth floor, The People's Archive keeps the stories and histories of Washington. The library is open daily.

The Georgetown branch holds the Peabody Room, a special collection of neighborhood history. Walk-ins are welcome on scheduled days, such as the first Saturday of the month.

Anyone 16 or older can get a Library of Congress card for the reading rooms. Pre-register online, then bring government-issued photo ID to finish registration in person in the Madison or Jefferson Building. Requested materials are brought to you in the reading room.

The Folger collects Shakespeare and early modern books and manuscripts, and it says it welcomes anyone to research. Register as a researcher first, and use Ask a Librarian for reference questions. It is closed Mondays.

Georgetown keeps its rare books and manuscripts on the fifth floor of Lauinger Library, along with the university archives. The literary holdings include a Vladimir Nabokov collection. Register and request materials through an Aeon account.

Howard calls the center the largest and most comprehensive repository of materials on the global Black experience. Its Black Press Archives hold more than 2,000 newspaper titles. The reading room is open weekdays.

Politics and Prose hosts author talks nearly every day at its Connecticut Avenue store. Readings also run at its shops at The Wharf and Union Market.

Solid State is a Black-owned bookstore with a full event calendar, and its genre book clubs run from poetry to romance. A second shop is on 14th Street NW, next to the Black Cat.

Laurie Gillman founded East City in 2016. The shop runs about 15 book clubs, four of them for children, and hosts author events in the store and around the city.

Capitol Hill Books stocks used and new books on three floors, along with first editions and rare books. Its monthly Second Saturday gathering includes a book club discussion. The rare book department is in Hyattsville, Maryland, and opens by appointment.

Lost City sells new and used books and stays open into the evening every day. Readings and book clubs meet in the store.

Loyalty keeps preorder lists for queer and BIPOC books and hosts frequent author conversations. One of its book clubs reads Octavia Butler. The store is closed Mondays.

Second Story carries about 50,000 used and rare books in every subject. It buys books daily.

Tryst has served coffee in Adams Morgan since 1998, and it keeps going through restaurant hours into a late bar. Laptops are allowed at your own risk. Lost City Books is on the same block.

The Coupe is Tryst's sister in Columbia Heights, a diner and coffeehouse with a bar. It opens early every day and serves breakfast all day.

The Den is the café beneath Politics and Prose, open daily for breakfast and lunch, with beer and wine too. Arrive early and you can write until the author talk starts upstairs.

DC Writers Room is a quiet shared studio. Drop in for a day or take a membership; the full one comes with 24/7 access. It also runs a novel-in-a-year program and offers manuscript consultations.

Busboys and Poets takes its name from Langston Hughes, who once worked as a busboy in Washington. The flagship at 14th and V has a restaurant and a bookstore, with event rooms besides. Authors present their books here.

Kramers opened in Dupont Circle in 1976 as a bookstore with a café, and it still sells books. The restaurant and bar are open daily from breakfast into the evening.

Quill & Crumb is the café in the Folger's Great Hall. It serves lunch and coffee, and there is a bar. Like the rest of the Folger, it is closed Mondays.

The Writer's Center teaches multi-week and one-day workshops in everything from poetry to picture books, at the center and online. It also hosts open mics and book launches. The center publishes Poet Lore, which it calls America's oldest poetry magazine.

PEN/Faulkner's literary programs, DC Reads and The Big Idea among them, bring established and emerging authors into conversation. Its education programs, Writers in Schools among them, reach DC students from third grade through twelfth. It also presents the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

The Folger brings poets to Capitol Hill for its O.B. Hardison readings, and Folger Poetry sells season subscriptions. The calendar also includes the Eudora Welty Lecture and a free monthly book club.

Politics and Prose runs classes and book groups, and The Hour is its poetry open mic. Writers ready to publish on their own can use Opus, the store's self-publishing service.

The Hurston/Wright Foundation serves Black writers. Its workshops include Writers Weekend and Writers Week, and it also offers virtual courses and a writer-in-residence program. Each year its Legacy Awards ceremony presents the Zora Awards.

The Folger Institute gathers scholars of early modern Europe and the British Isles, from early-stage graduate students to faculty. Its research fellowships support scholarly and artistic projects. Folger Community Scholars is for local and visiting academics.

HumanitiesDC, the District's humanities council, makes annual grants to DC residents and organizations doing public humanities projects. It also offers fellowships and runs the DC Oral History Collaborative.

Search the collections through Digital Howard before you visit. The center's library holds more than 175,000 books and periodicals, with rare works from the 16th century on, and it keeps Howard's University Archives.

MITH has led digital humanities research at the University of Maryland for more than 20 years. It collaborates on computational research in cultural heritage and the arts and hosts events open to the public.

Georgetown University Press publishes on international affairs and political science. Religion and theology are on the list too, as is linguistics. Preparing a manuscript for Georgetown University Press

The Brookings Institution's press publishes about forty books a year on public policy, from foreign policy to economics and development. Since 2022 it has co-published with Rowman & Littlefield. Preparing a manuscript for Brookings

The Urban Institute is a policy research organization. It publishes reports, data tools, and analysis on housing and health policy, among other subjects. Preparing a manuscript for the Urban Institute

APA Books publishes for researchers and clinicians in every area of psychology, with series running from trauma care to qualitative methods. Magination Press is its imprint for children's books. Preparing a manuscript for APA Books

The National Association of Social Workers runs this scholarly press. Alongside clinical and practice books and NASW Standards, it publishes five journals, Social Work among them. Preparing a manuscript for NASW Press

The NLN serves nurse faculty and nursing education. It publishes the journal Nursing Education Perspectives and sells its nursing-education publications through the NLN Bookstore. Preparing a manuscript for the National League for Nursing

ISTE+ASCD publishes books for educators under two names. ASCD books serve teachers and school leaders on teaching practice and leadership, and ISTE books cover technology in education. Preparing a manuscript for ASCD

Rowman & Littlefield publishes college texts and scholarly books across the humanities and social sciences. Bloomsbury bought its academic imprints in 2024. Preparing a manuscript for Rowman & Littlefield

Lexington publishes peer-reviewed monographs and edited collections in the humanities and social sciences, and its lists in linguistics and legal studies are growing. Bloomsbury bought it from Rowman & Littlefield in 2024. Preparing a manuscript for Lexington Books

The American Nurses Association publishes nursing books, its scope-and-standards titles among them. Preparing a manuscript for the American Nurses Association

Washington Writers' Publishing House is a nonprofit press for writers who live in DC, Maryland, or Virginia. It chooses its books through annual prizes in poetry, fiction, and translation, and it also publishes pocket-sized anthologies such as Capital Love.

This is the official journal of the International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses. Its editor, Edilma L. Yearwood, is a professor at Georgetown's School of Nursing. Preparing an article for Archives of Psychiatric Nursing

AJPH has published public health research since 1911. The American Public Health Association publishes it from 800 I Street NW, and editor-in-chief Denys T. Lau is a faculty associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Preparing an article for AJPH

Public Health Reports is the official journal of the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General and the U.S. Public Health Service. It publishes research and commentary on public health practice and law. Editor-in-chief Zygmunt F. Dembek works in the Office of the Surgeon General. Preparing an article for Public Health Reports

Health Affairs publishes peer-reviewed research and analysis on health policy, and its Forefront section carries health policy news. Its publisher, Project HOPE, has its headquarters at 1101 Connecticut Avenue NW. Preparing an article for Health Affairs

The Society of Behavioral Medicine's journal publishes peer-reviewed work on turning behavioral science into better patient and population health. Editor-in-chief Cheryl L. Knott is at the University of Maryland. Preparing an article for Translational Behavioral Medicine

This APA journal publishes empirical studies of counseling practice and career development, along with reviews and work on measurement. Its editor, William Ming Liu, is at the University of Maryland, College Park. Preparing an article for the Journal of Counseling Psychology

Founded in 1973, the journal publishes original articles on clinical social work practice. Editor-in-chief Melissa D. Grady is at Catholic University's National School of Social Service. Preparing an article for Clinical Social Work Journal

The Academy of Human Resource Development's journal publishes HRD theory and research and evaluations of HRD programs. Toby Egan of the University of Maryland is one of its three co-editors. Preparing an article for Human Resource Development Quarterly

ASHP's official journal publishes peer-reviewed papers on drug therapy and pharmacy practice in hospitals and health systems. ASHP has its headquarters in Bethesda, and Daniel J. Cobaugh is editor-in-chief. Preparing an article for AJHP

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities funds individual artists and humanities practitioners, at any career stage, whose work contributes to the District. Humanities & Literary Arts is one of its categories, and past applicants include authors and poets.

The press runs annual book prizes for writers living in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and it publishes the winning manuscripts.

The foundation gives the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the PEN/Hemingway Award for a debut novel. The PEN/Malamud honors excellence in the short story.

The Zora Awards honor books by Black writers in four categories, debut fiction among them. The Award for College Writers recognizes student writing in prose and poetry. Both are presented at the annual Legacy Awards.

This guide gathers grants and writing resources for Georgetown students.

George Washington students have the same guide.

American University students can find grants and campus writing help here.

Catholic University's page collects grants and writing resources for its students.

Howard students will find grants and writing resources on this page.

The Maryland page covers grants and writing resources at the University of Maryland.

Students at the Uniformed Services University have a page of their own.

George Mason students can start here for grants and writing resources.

Marymount students get a version of their own.

District Riso teaches hands-on risograph workshops and prints small runs. Once you finish a workshop, you can rent time on its Riso SF5130. It suits a zine.

Pyramid Atlantic, a nonprofit art center founded in 1981, works in printmaking and book arts. Its letterpress studio is open to certified artists and to those working toward certification.

Heritage Printing produces perfect-bound books, with a square spine and a wraparound cover, for reports and guides. Print-ready jobs go through its online store, and larger jobs are quoted.