Literati Press is Oklahoma’s first community-owned bookshop and publishing company located in the historic Paseo Arts District in Oklahoma City. Founded in 2010 to herald innovative storytelling throughout the state, Literati Press steadily expanded through the years, opening a brick and mortar bookshop in 2016. In 2024, The Writers Co-op was founded as a legal cooperative and, in 2025, began the process of taking on ownership of Literati Press.
Our Story, In Brief
PUBLISHING
It began with a couple comics created from repurposed office supplies and a novel about a summer camp in the afterlife, then grew into an internationally recognized publishing company landing titles on prominent top ten lists. Natasha Alterici’s acclaimed Heathen launched with Literati Press, as did Steven Paul Judd and Tvli Jacob’s breakout graphic novel The Rez Detectives. Though modest in means, Literati Press continues representing some of the most exciting voices in Oklahoma comics and fiction. Check out our new releases and shop all our titles!
BOOKSHOP
Literati Press Bookshop opened with two bookshelves in 2016, shortly after helping Joy Reed Belt open the long-dormant Paseo Plunge–once a public swimming pool dating back to the 1930’s. Charles J. Martin and a team of booklovers helped keep the shop open during those early, lean months as they scraped money together to buy more and more and more books. As bookshelves were donated, Literati Press continued to sprawl through the quirky building, allowing for the organic growth of a quirky, highly curated collection best described by a customer as “like walking into someone’s living room.”
Literati Press also threw ambitious events in their small space in the Plunge such as the Literati Press Variety Show and a play written by LP’s Book Apothecary James McGough using poetry from the Harlem Renaissance, the Beatniks, and other poets of their generation.
By 2023, Literati Press was bursting at the seams so moved a few doors north where, in the fall of 2024, two storefronts were combined to allow for the next evolution of the Literati Press vision.
The Writers Co-op
For years, Literati Press helped fill a need for educational programming focused on storytelling through a series of workshops and mentorship programs throughout the state. In 2019, ideas for a community space for writers began bouncing around, but there wasn’t the space in the Paseo Plunge to pursue this new direction in earnest. With the move to the new location in 2024, Literati Press now provides a home for the growing community of writers, illustrators, poets, songwriters, and dramaturgists honing their craft across Oklahoma City.
The Writers Co-op opened in 2025 as a community of practicing storytellers, working within fiction, poetry, filmmaking, visual arts, music, and other related fields. Our primary function is to foster community, intersectionality, and literary citizenship to help each other become better readers, writers, and storytellers by serving as each other’s champions and collaborators.
Membership in the Co-op means owning a piece of Literati Press and having a voice in all our major decisions from board members to publishing strategies. We created Literati Press to strengthen the metro’s literary community, and now the literary community will guide the future of Literati Press.
Date/Time: Jan. 9, 2027 at 11:00
Pricing: $35
Max Attendance: 8
Do premade book journals not quite fit how you’d like to track your reading? I know I have a pile of half-filled-out book journals myself!
Join me for a fun, creative Book Journaling Workshop, where you’ll create your very own tailor-made book journal that truly fits your reading life!
Tracking your reading via a creative journal is a great self-discovery tool, and challenges you to interact with what you read in unique ways.
In addition to a blank journal that you can customize to reflect your unique reading style, you’ll also get:
• Inspiration for the many different layouts you can use to track your reads
• Help creating your own reading challenges and goals that sound fun to you
• Access to decorating supplies so you can design each page exactly how you want—think markers, stencils, washi tape, and stickers!"
Melissa Coast is a book concierge and book buyer at Literati Press Bookshop. Melissa pinged on the Literati Press radar with her fantastic Instagram account, @stickynote_bookrecs as well as her frequent trips to our shop. Initially roped into the crew to help with spare hours, we soon realized she was a voracious reader and loved talking, selling, and curating books. Her role expanded into lead book buyer in 2023. She's always ready to chat with anyone who loves books as much as she does, happy to share recommendations, or just gush about favorite reads.