Western American Literature

04/05/2026

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03/12/2026

WLA in Eugene! Submit!

It's time to submit your abstract to present at the 2026 WLA conference in beautiful Eugene, Oregon! Deadline to submit is March 31. You don't want to miss it! (Link in comments)

02/27/2026

Excellent and long awaited news! Issue 60.3 is available online and the hard copies are making their way to your mailbox. And, as a bonus, the online version is currently open access.

Enjoy the fascinating articles by Kristen Brown, Sarah Nolan-Brueck, and David Balfour and peruse the selection of insightful book reviews.

https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/56449

01/05/2026

Happy New Year from frosty Marquette, Michigan! Looking for a New Year's resolution you can keep? Consider putting "submit an essay to WAL" on your resolution list! We can't wait to read what you cook up in 2026!

https://www.editorialmanager.com/wal/default.aspx

10/22/2025

📣ATTENTION!! We are soliciting proposals for a special issue of the journal focusing on US highways and the West! Please see attached CFP.

10/01/2025

Issue 60.2 is out! This special issue, "Resettling Willa Cather's West," was guest edited by WAL Book Review Editor Emily Rau and features essays by Rachel Collins, Paul Burch, Jerome Tharaud, Bill Handley, Sarah Jane Kerwin, and Ariel Clark Silver along with a review essay by Bob Thacker! Some of the authors presented their work last summer at the Willa Cather Seminar (pictured).

09/26/2025

Now that the panels have ended, the banquet has been put away, and our dancing shoes are resting, it's time to polish up those papers and submit them to WAL (click below)! We can't wait to revisit the ideas you shared in the (very) air conditioned rooms of the OKANA!

09/22/2025

Come see us at the Book Exhibit in Sunrise Ballroom 3!

09/21/2025

It’s conference week! Come visit WAL in the book exhibit and help us celebrate 60 years! (There is a “60 years of WAL” reflection in the program linked here.)

In addition to using the Conference4Me app to access an interactive version of the WLA 2025 program, you can also download the PDF version that is laid out in the style of the printed programs we’ve used in the past. It works on your phone, too, on any e-reader app that can open PDFs. Check it out!

https://westernlit.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2025-Program-9-19-25-2.pdf

09/06/2025

How’s that presentation coming along? Don’t forget to expand, polish, and submit your brilliant ideas to WAL after the conference is over!

59th Western Literature Association Conference Date: September 21–24, 2025 [Please note that this year, we will meet from Sunday through Wednesday!] Location: Oklahoma City, OklahomaVenue: OKANA Re…

08/11/2025

Issue 60.1 has arrived -- the first issue of WAL's 60th year celebration! We loaded this one up with extra book reviews -- so check them out, along with essays on Mabel Dodge Luhan (Matt Johnson) and the Beach Boys (Robert Bennett)!