New Orleans, Seattle, Cleveland and Sacramento are the latest entries in Ploughshares magazine's Literary Boroughs series, which explores "little-known and well-known literary communities across the country and world and show that while literary culture can exist online without regard to geographic location, it also continues to thrive locally." 
New Orleans may be getting most of its publicity this week as the site of Sunday's NFL Super Bowl, but the "literary arts are particularly on the rise in the Crescent City, characterized by an influx of writers and an exponential increase in readings and events over the past couple years," Ploughshares reported.
The city also "has the same number of bookshops per capita as Manhattan," including Octavia Books ("hosts perhaps the most active reading series for authors with newly-published books"), Maple Street Bookshop and Garden District Book Shop.
"Seattle doesn't have the literary history of a Boston or a New York, but it's become a mecca for bookish types who don't mind a bit of rain on their chunky-frame glasses," Ploughshares wrote. Among the bookshops featured were Open Books: A Poem Emporium ("no bookstore in Seattle is more beloved by its customers"), Elliott Bay Book Company, Third Place Books, University Book Store, Left Bank Books, Magus Books and Twice Sold Tales. "Amazon lurks nearby (both physically and virtually)--but please, whenever possible, buy your books from a bookstore," Ploughshares noted.
"Clevelanders are proud, noble people and have a vibrant arts culture that boasts world-class talent," Ploughshares noted. Featured bookstores were Visible Voice Books, Loganberry Books ("a bibliophile's dream") and Mac's Backs.
Sacramento's literary scene "puts as much emphasis on how words enter public space as part of the oral tradition as it does on words impressed onto the printed page," though bookstores also abound, including the Book Collector, the Avid Reader, Beers Books and Time Tested Books.
