wartburg college’s 1948 fall term creative writing class, taught by esther haefner, decided to create the college’s first literary magazine. robert gronlund, ’49, became the first editor-in-chief, supervising the publication of the 32-page magazine. when the first issue of the castle tales was released in february, 1949, all 500 copies sold out within hours. a second issue was produced in may of that same year, but publication was eventually reduced to one issue per year. in 1957 the magazine’s title was shortened to the castle. in 1997, under editor amy silver, the castle again became a semi-annual publication.