Kathy Acker Books in Order
24 books are credited to Kathy Acker, published between 1973 and 2019; 5 of them appeared after Kathy Acker's death in 1997. The first book is The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula (1973) and the newest is Kathy Acker: Unpublished Early Writings (2019). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 24
- Published
- 1973–2019
- Confirmed
- 1 of 24 titles
- Pages on record
- 3,434 in 20 of 24 books
- Reading time
- 57–86 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 3,434 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 20 of 24 titles with a page count on record.
Kathy Acker (1947-1997) was an American experimental novelist who also worked as a poet, playwright, essayist, critic and performance artist. Acker built texts by pastiche and by cutting up and scrambling passages, and returned to childhood trauma, sexuality, language, identity and rebellion, placing the result in the post-nouveau roman European tradition. The catalogue holds 24 titles, from The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula (1973) to Kathy Acker: Unpublished Early Writings (2019), among them Great Expectations (1982), Blood and Guts in High School (1984), Don Quixote (1986) and Literal Madness (1987). Portrait of an Eye is the one series recorded.
How many Kathy Acker books are there?
Kathy Acker has 24 books, released between 1973 and 2019. 5 of them were published after Kathy Acker's death in 1997. 3 of them belong to the Portrait of an Eye series.
Kathy Acker Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 24 Kathy Acker books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 119731521/4
- 219741141/4
- 319782011/4
- 4New York City in 19791981 · 64 pages · confirmed 1/41981641/4
- 5Hello, I'm Erica Jong1982 · 32 pages · confirmed 1/41982321/4
- 6Great Expectations1982 · 128 pages · confirmed 1/419821281/4
- 7Blood and Guts in High School1984 · 165 pages · confirmed 1/419841651/4
- 8Algeria1984 · 32 pages · confirmed 1/41984321/4
- 9Don Quixote1986 · 207 pages · confirmed 1/419862071/4
- 10Literal Madness1987 · 352 pages · confirmed 1/419873521/4
- 11Empire of the Senseless1988 · 227 pages · confirmed 1/419882271/4
- 12Young Lust1989 · 256 pages · confirmed 1/419892561/4
- 13In Memoriam to Identity1990 · 272 pages · confirmed 1/419902721/4
- 14Kathy Goes To Haiti1990 · 170 pages · confirmed 1/419901701/4
- 15Hannibal Lecter, My Father1991 · 162 pages · confirmed 1/419911621/4
- 16My Mother1993 · confirmed 1/41993–1/4
- 17Pussycat Fever1995 · 76 pages · confirmed 1/41995761/4
- 18Bodies of Work: Essays1996 · 200 pages · confirmed 1/419962001/4
- 19Pussy, King of the Pirates1996 · 276 pages · confirmed 1/419962761/4
- 20Eurydice in the Underworld1998 · 188 pages · confirmed 1/419981881/4
- 21Rip-Off Red, Girl Detective and the Burning Bombing of America2002 · confirmed 1/42002–1/4
- 22I'm Very into You: Correspondence 1995-19962015 · 160 pages · confirmed 1/420151601/4
- 232018–3/4
- 24Kathy Acker: Unpublished Early Writings2019 · confirmed 1/42019–1/4
Kathy Acker books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Portrait of an Eye in order
3 booksLast Interview in order
1 book- 21. Kathy Acker
Standalone books
20 books20 Kathy Acker titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Kathy Acker books in order?
You only need to read Kathy Acker books in order within the Portrait of an Eye series, which holds 3 of the 24 Kathy Acker books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with Kathy Acker
Start with The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula (1973), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Kathy Acker book?
Kathy Acker: Unpublished Early Writings (2019) is the newest Kathy Acker book released so far.
Is there a new Kathy Acker book coming?
No next Kathy Acker book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Kathy Acker at a glance
- Died
- Kathy Acker died in 1997, according to Wikidata.
- After death
- Books credited to Kathy Acker are still being published after Kathy Acker's death in 1997; the newest appeared in 2019.
- Release pace
- Kathy Acker books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
- Length
- 3,434 pages across the 20 of 24 books with a recorded length, a median of 168 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Kathy Acker books, 9 of 24, were published in the 1980s.
What the Kathy Acker books are about
19 of the 24 Kathy Acker books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: american experimental fiction is tagged on 4 of 19. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.