World Literature Today was founded as Books Abroad in 1927 by Roy Temple House, a scholar of vision from the University of Oklahoma. From a modest seedling of 32 pages in January 1927, Books Abroad grew to 256 pages by the end of its fiftieth year (Autumn 1976), and that year's cover design reflected the completion of a significant circle. In January 1977 the journal became known as World Literature Today, reflecting the truly international range that its coverage and reputation had acquired.
Today, WLT is published quarterly and is available internationally in libraries and bookstores, and is available for individual subscriptions in print and digital format. The magazine can also be read online at www.worldliteraturetoday.org, which also hosts WLT's blog on international literature and culture. OU students who participate in an intership at WLT have the opportunity to be a part of this magazine, working in copyediting, writing book reviews, or digital media, for example.
Now with over 90 years of uninterrupted publication, WLT is one of the oldest continuously published literary periodicals in the United States—along with such other publications launched in the early twentieth century as South Atlantic Quarterly (1902), Poetry (1912), and the New Yorker (1925)—and we remain devoted to our mission of serving students, scholars, and general readers worldwide. For years, a quotation from Goethe appeared on our masthead: "These journals, as they reach a wider public, will contribute most effectively to the universal world literature for which we are hoping. There can be no question, however, of nations thinking alike. The aim is simply that they shall grow aware of one another, understand one another, and, even where they may not be able to love, may at least tolerate one another." Goethe's words, first published in 1828, remain at the heart of our mission, even—or perhaps especially—in a world that has become increasingly globalized in the 21st century but remains fraught with national, linguistic, and political divisions.
Created by the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a doctoral-degree-granting research university serving the educational, cultural, economic, and health-care needs of the state, region, and nation. The Norman campus serves as home to all of the university’s academic programs except health-related fields. Administratively, WLT is supervised by OU's senior vice president and provost, Dr. Kyle Harper. For more information about the university, visit the OU home page.
