In recent years the number of proponents of literature use in language classes has been considerably increasing due to increased awareness of benefits of including literature into language programs. A number of books have been published to help guide language teachers on how to use literature in their lessons, and publishers have begun to investigate ways of including literature into their language teaching course books. The aim of this paper is to examine to what extent and how literature has been integrated into course books specially prepared for language teaching. To this end, three sets of course books used at the preparatory schools of four state and four private universities in İzmir have been scanned. According to the results of the study, there is a noticeable effort to increase learners’ awareness of literature. Even though literary texts are rarely used, there are frequent references to the names of authors and the titles of literary works and fictional characters. When the advantages of integrating literature in language teaching are considered, it can be strongly recommended that many more attempts are needed for more use of literature in more effective ways in language course books.