PALA was founded in 1980 by a group of scholars who were interested in the language of literature, and who did not feel that the forums that were available to them at the time were adequate for productive academic discussion.
[1] Among the founding, or early, members were Ron Carter, Roger Fowler, Geoffrey Leech, Michael Short, Katie Wales, and Peter Verdonk.
To celebrate its Silver Jubilee in 2005, PALA held a poll of its members to award a prize to ‘the most influential book in stylistics’ to be published in its 25-year history.
The prize was awarded to Style in Fiction by Geoffrey Leech and Mick Short, originally published by Longman in 1981, and a special symposium, hosted by the two authors, was held in Lancaster in March 2006.
Language and Literature is published by Sage, and the current editor is Rocio Montoro of the University of Granada.