Of all classical Lao literature, Pha Lak Pha Lam, the Lao Version of the Indian epic the Ramayana, is the most pervasive and influential in the culture. The Indian source first came to Laos with the Hindu Khmer as stone reliefs at Wat Phu Champasak and other Angkor-period temple Oral and written versions may also have been available; eventually, though the Lao developed their own version of the epic, which differs greatly both  from the original and from Thailand's Ramakian.

Of the 547 Jataka tales in the Pali Tipitaka (tripartite Buddhist canon) almost word-for-word as they were first written down in Sri Lanka. group of 50'extra'or apocryphal stories - based on Lao-Thai folk tales of the time – were added by Pali scholars in Luang Prabang between 300 and 400 years ago. Laos’s most popular Jataka is an old Pah original knov as the Mahajati or Mahavessandara (Lao: Pha Wet), the story of the Budha's penultimate life. Interior murals in the sỉm of many Lao wat typical depict this Jataka as well as others.

Contemporary literature has been hampered by decades of war ai communist rule. Only in 1999 was the first collection of contempora Lao fiction, Ounthine Bounyavong's Mother's Beloved: Stories from Lai published in a bilingual Lao and English edition.