Literature has existed for thousands of years. With so much written thought and history to discover, how do we approach literary study?

Let us take you on a journey that began in 1962, when Gale published our first volume of Contemporary Authors, the first series in a high-quality literary program that has grown to encompass award-winning databases, primary source collections, journals, eBooks, and more. 

Explore how our approach to literary study has evolved for over 60 years through the resources we’ve developed in coordination with academic librarians, authors, and researchers. From sourcing a vast collection of literary criticism to expanding literary representation to include more diverse perspectives, learn about our content development process and how students and researchers use our resources to make their own literary discoveries.

Experience the Gale Literature Timeline

Gale Literature has evolved into a powerful, integrated research experience that brings together Gale’s premier literature databases to enrich discovery and learning. This in-depth, interactive timeline will take you through the long and storied history of Gale Literature from our first published volume in 1962 to the vast collection of multimedia that makes up the resource today. See how the impact of technology and input from academic librarians inspired our approach to literature to be more innovative, content driven, and customer-centric.

Take a Look Behind-the-Scenes

Our partnership with renowned academics enables us to bring you the most authoritative and trusted databases available to meet the needs and standards of students, faculty, and librarians alike. We spoke to some of the scholars to learn more about their background, research interests, and what it’s like to bring their passion to a worldwide audience through Gale Literature.

 

 

      

 

 

 

 

Discover How Content Is Curated

Hear from Layman Poupard, one of our most trusted publishing partners, about their approach to providing authoritative content for several Gale Literature products. Through extensive research on diverse topics and subjects, Layman Poupard has collaborated with Gale for over 50 years to give a global network of students and faculty members access to literature content that meets the standards of librarians and brings coverage to both historically underrepresented and fresh perspectives.

Dive Deeper into Literature Diversity

From studying voices advocating for LGBTQ+ rights to Black feminism to antidiscrimination for people with disabilities, discover ways your library can introduce learners to themes of diversity and intersectionality in the humanities through literature.

Black Voices
Learn how to amplify Black voices that have long been underrepresented through the study of literature.  

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Give students and researchers the opportunity to better understand the experiences and issues of marginalized and underrepresented social groups with access to diverse literary sources.

Emerging Authors
Offer students insight into today’s global human experience and its effects on modern history with the study of emerging authors.

International Voices
Expand the global potential of research and critical thinking for learners with the study of international voices in literature.

LGBTQ+ Authors
Give students and researchers access to more diverse and inclusive perspectives with LGBTQ+ literary resources. 

Women Authors
Celebrate and encourage the study of female voices throughout history with women’s literature.

Have questions about Gale’s content curation process or want an inside look at one of our higher education literature resources?

Connect with Your Gale Representative

Engage Students & Researchers in Literary Topics

From British literature to author biographies, find insights and useful resources from Gale to drive researcher and student engagement across various literary topics in your library and classrooms.

American Literature
Guide researchers through the body of written works produced in the United States since the seventeenth century, including fiction, nonfiction, drama, poetry, and literary criticism. 

Authors
From poets and playwrights to novelists, essayists, and biographers, help students learn more about important authors throughout history.

Bibliography 
Showcase the function and history of the bibliography, including the use of bibliographic data like the title of the work, place of publication, publisher, and author.

British Literature
Connect researchers to the world of British literature, including fiction, nonfiction, drama, poetry, and literary criticism that dates from as early as the tenth century.

Children’s and Young Adult Literature 
Offer a closer look at children’s and young adult literature, also known as juvenile literature, including poetry, short stories, novels, picture books, and chapter books, created to be read either to or by children and teenagers.

Fiction Works
Enable students and faculty to study imagined stories through fiction works like novels, short stories, and epic poems—diving into genres like science fiction, mystery, and fantasy.

Literature Criticism 
Help students delve into the academic study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature with a vast collection of English literature criticism.

World Literature
Have researchers examine the topic of world literature, the definition of which has been subject to scholarly debate.

Find Resources for Your Institution

With these literature resources, you can offer on-demand access to accessible online environments to enrich research, teaching, and learning at your college or university.

Want to learn more? Dive deeper into Gale’s library databases.

Gale Literature Criticism
Offer access to one of the largest, most extensive compilations of literary criticism available.  

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Gale Literature Resource Center
Provide up-to-date biographical information, overviews, full-text criticism, and reviews on more than 130,000 published novelists in all disciplines, from all time periods, and from around the world.

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Gale Literature: LitFinder
Connect students and researchers to a wealth of literary works, including over 150,000 full-text poems and more than 800,000 poetry citations as well as short stories, speeches, and plays.

VIEW FACT SHEET »

Gale Literature: Dictionary of Literary Biography
Provide essential context to understand the careers and writings of more than 12,000 published novelists from all time periods and all parts of the world with a collection of signed, scholarly essays.

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Gale Literature: Something About the Author 
Offer access to engaging author biographies of classic, contemporary, and emerging novelists and illustrators of children’s and young adult works.

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Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors
Enable researchers to find current biographical and bibliographical data on more than 120,000 modern writers.

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Have questions about Gale’s content curation process or want an inside look at one of our higher education literature resources?

Connect with Your Gale Representative