A Writer's Guide to Zurich

The Zentralbibliothek is the cantonal, city and university library, and it is free to use once you register for a swisscovery account. Its special collections run from manuscripts and early printed books to maps, music and Turicensia. The reading room opens on Sundays.

PBZ Altstadt, on five floors of the Pestalozzihaus, is the largest library in the city's public network. It has individual and group workplaces and a meeting room you can rent on request.

The Oerlikon branch is right at the station. PBZ Standard and Premium subscribers can use its Open Library every day, from early morning to late evening, outside staffed hours.

Writers working on social history will want the Sozialarchiv. Its archive holds the records of organizations and private papers, along with photographs, and its documentation section keeps press cuttings. Order through swisscovery and items are usually ready in about half an hour. You need a user card only to borrow.

Never Stop Reading stocks art and design books, with bibliophile German titles and books in English. It hosts book launches and readings. Authors and publishers can also rent the space for their own events.

Buchhandlung sec 52 has sold literature and philosophy since 1983. It also stocks poetry and typography, along with books in English.

Paranoia City is a neighborhood bookshop with its own publishing house. It is strong on fiction and children's books, and it hosts readings. Ask about the yearly book subscription.

Calligramme opened in 1984, and four booksellers took it over in 2020. Look for fiction and poetry, or for books on theater and film.

Pile of Books is an English-language bookshop. It runs two book clubs, Ink Drinkers and Revolutionary Love, and holds other events. Fiction and poetry share the shelves with history.

sphères is a bar and bookshop with a stage for cultural events, open daily. Its event room, RAUM68, can be rented. Laptops are not allowed on Sundays and public holidays.

Impact Hub sells flexible coworking memberships across its three Zurich locations, and newcomers can book a trial day. Café Auer & Co, at the same address, is a public café with a terrace. Both close at weekends.

Kraftwerk is a café, restaurant and bar in a former power station, open to the public, with a terrace on the river. People work here over coffee on weekdays. Lunch is vegetarian or vegan.

Café des Amis opens daily from breakfast and has a garden terrace. Weekday mornings are quietest; at weekends the brunch crowd fills it.

Kronenhalle has been a restaurant and bar since 1924. The interior is by Robert Haussmann and the lamps by Diego Giacometti, and paintings from the house's own collection hang on the walls. It is open daily.

Café Odeon has been open since 1911, and James Joyce and Kurt Tucholsky were among its guests. It was a second home for the avant-garde.

Dada began at Cabaret Voltaire, which opened on 5 February 1916. Today it is a museum and venue with a bar and a Dada library. The library, on the first floor, doubles as a workspace by day.

The Literaturhaus belongs to the Museumsgesellschaft, a Zurich reading society active since 1834. Its readings and book launches are mainly in German. The house also holds the society's lending library and a listed historic reading room, and it runs a Masterclass for young writers.

The Strauhof calls itself a museum without a collection. It stages exhibitions on authors and literary themes and runs a reading circle (Lesezirkel) and the Wild Cards series. Most of its program is in German.

The Zurich James Joyce Foundation, a center for Joyce studies, shares the Strauhof's address. Its research library and archival holdings are there, and it gives scholarships to researchers who come to work in the library. Reading groups meet too.

Zürich liest is the annual book festival, with more than 100 events each autumn in Zurich and the region. The program is mainly in German.

The Collegium Helveticum is the joint Institute for Advanced Studies of ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and the Zurich University of the Arts. Each year it hosts up to about forty fellows, academics and artists alike, who get protected time for their own projects. Its colloquia and lectures are open to the public.

The Zentralbibliothek handles interlibrary loan and document delivery. Staff also give research advice and run courses. Its digitized holdings are on e-manuscripta.ch and e-rara.ch, and you can search the special collections through swisscollections.

ETH Zürich has held Thomas Mann's literary estate since 1956, in an archive attached to the ETH-Bibliothek. It is open to the public. Staff advise researchers from Switzerland and abroad, and there is a reading room on site. The archive also runs the Thomas Mann International search portal.

Diogenes describes itself as Europe's largest independent fiction publisher. It publishes international fiction in German, along with art and cartoon books and books for children.

Unionsverlag publishes world literature in German translation. Its list runs from literary fiction and crime novels to travel writing and nonfiction.

TVZ publishes scholarship in theology and church history. Its critical editions cover Zwingli, Bullinger and Karl Barth, and the list also carries the Zürcher Bibel and open-access titles.

Inventiones mathematicae is a Springer journal that publishes new contributions to mathematics at frequent intervals. One of its managing editors is in the Department of Mathematics at ETH Zurich. Preparing an article for Inventiones mathematicae

Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council, has its headquarters in Zurich. It offers creation grants for writers and translation grants for Swiss translators, and it supports residencies and research trips. Writers and translators living and active in Switzerland can apply, whatever their citizenship.

The canton's Fachstelle Kultur gives work grants for literary projects in progress, in any language, to authors who live in the canton. Applications are judged anonymously from a text sample. A parallel strand supports Zurich translators.

These cantonal awards recognize published literary texts by authors living in the canton, translations into German included. They go to writers recommended by the cantonal literature committee.

The city's Werkjahr supports Zurich authors who have published an independent literary work while they write a new text. Every form qualifies, from poetry and drama to children's books and comics, in any language. The process runs in German, and you can apply in German or English.

The city honors outstanding new literary publications by Zurich authors and translators. These awards come by invitation, on the recommendation of the city's literature commission.

Every four years the city gives the Max Frisch-Preis to an author from the German-speaking world whose work addresses fundamental questions of democratic society.

Editors For Students collects grants and writing resources for ETH Zurich students on this page.

Editors For Students keeps the same guide for University of Zurich students.

Atelier Rohbogen is a hand bindery for books and brochures, theses included. It also restores and repairs books, mounts and frames work, and makes custom boxes. The entrance is on Rütschistrasse.

Buchbinderei Ritschard binds theses and makes books in special techniques in small and medium runs. It also makes custom boxes and cases and does repairs. The bindery has moved, and its site lists two Forchstrasse addresses.