Puterbaugh Conference on World Literature


The Puterbaugh Conference on World Literature is an annual conference presented by the magazine World Literature Today and the University of Oklahoma. The conference began in 1968 as the Oklahoma Conferences on Writers of the Hispanic World. Since 1978 it has been endowed by the Puterbaugh Foundation of McAlester. At that time, the breadth of the conference was enlarged to include French literature. Since 1993, the conference has covered all world literatures.
Each year, the conferences bring a renowned author to Norman, Oklahoma for a series of lectures, seminars and symposia. The lectures are free and open to the public. Papers presented at the conference are then published in World Literature Today. Seven Nobel laureates, Czesław Miłosz, Orhan Pamuk, J. M. Coetzee, Kenzaburō Ōe, Octavio Paz, J.M.G. Le Clézio, and Mario Vargas Llosa have been honored with a Puterbaugh Conference.

List of Puterbaugh Conference Honorees

YearNameCountryLanguage
1968Jorge GuillénSpanish
1969Jorge Luis BorgesSpanish
1971Octavio PazSpanish
1973Dámaso AlonsoSpanish
1975Julio CortázarSpanish
1977Mario Vargas LlosaSpanish
1979Yves BonnefoyFrench
1981Michel ButorFrench
1983Carlos FuentesSpanish
1987Guillermo Cabrera InfanteSpanish
1989Édouard Glissant French
1991Manuel PuigSpanish
1993Maryse Condé French
1995Luisa ValenzuelaSpanish
1997J.M.G. Le ClézioFrench
1999Czesław MiłoszPolish
2001Kenzaburō ŌeJapanese
2002Roberto Fernández RetamarSpanish
2003J. M. CoetzeeEnglish
2004Nélida PiñonPortuguese
2006Orhan PamukTurkish
2008Bei DaoChinese
2010Sherman AlexieEnglish
2011Dacia MarainiItalian