Milan Kundera Books in Order
21 books are credited to Milan Kundera, published between 1963 and 2025; 1 of them appeared after Milan Kundera's death in 2023. The first book is Let the Old Dead Make Room for the Young Dead (1963) and the newest is 89 Words followed by Prague, A Disappearing Poem (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 21
- Published
- 1963–2025
- Pages on record
- 3,561 in 16 of 21 books
- Reading time
- 59–89 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 3,561 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 16 of 21 titles with a page count on record.
Milan Kundera was a Czech and French novelist who lived from 1929 to 2023. His 21 catalogued books open with Let the Old Dead Make Room for the Young Dead (1963) and include The Joke (1967), Laughable Loves (1970), Life is Elsewhere (1970), Farewell Waltz (1971), The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1979) and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), his best known work. Kundera went into exile in France in 1975 and took citizenship there in 1981; Czechoslovakia revoked his citizenship in 1979, and Czech citizenship was granted again in 2019. The ruling Communist Party banned his books before the Velvet Revolution of 1989. Kundera kept a low profile, rarely spoke to the media, and was long counted a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The books run short, at a median of 202 pages.
How many Milan Kundera books are there?
Milan Kundera has 21 books, released between 1963 and 2025. 1 of them were published after Milan Kundera's death in 2023.
Milan Kundera Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 21 Milan Kundera 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.
- 1Let the Old Dead Make Room for the Young Dead1963 · 48 pages · confirmed 1/41963481/4
- 2The Joke1967 · 317 pages · confirmed 1/419673171/4
- 3Laughable Loves1970 · 287 pages · confirmed 1/419702871/4
- 4Life is Elsewhere1970 · 419 pages · confirmed 1/419704191/4
- 5Jacques and His Master1971 · 90 pages · confirmed 1/41971901/4
- 6Farewell Waltz1971 · 288 pages · confirmed 1/419712881/4
- 7The Farewell Party1972 · 209 pages · confirmed 1/419722091/4
- 8The Book of Laughter and Forgetting1979 · 312 pages · confirmed 1/419793121/4
- 9A Kidnapped West1983 · confirmed 1/41983–1/4
- 10The Unbearable Lightness of Being1984 · confirmed 1/41984–1/4
- 11The Art of the Novel1986 · 165 pages · confirmed 1/419861651/4
- 12Immortality1990 · 320 pages · confirmed 1/419903201/4
- 13Testaments Betrayed1993 · 288 pages · confirmed 1/419932881/4
- 14Slowness1995 · 156 pages · confirmed 1/419951561/4
- 15Identity1997 · 176 pages · confirmed 1/419971761/4
- 16Masterpieces of Fiction1997 · confirmed 1/41997–1/4
- 17Ignorance2000 · 195 pages · confirmed 1/420001951/4
- 18The Curtain2005 · 176 pages · confirmed 1/420051761/4
- 19Encounter2009 · confirmed 1/42009–1/4
- 20The Festival of Insignificance2013 · 115 pages · confirmed 1/420131151/4
- 2189 Words followed by Prague, A Disappearing Poem2025 · confirmed 1/42025–1/4
Milan Kundera 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.
Standalone books
21 books21 Milan Kundera titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Milan Kundera books in order?
No. No source lists any of the 21 Milan Kundera books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.
Where to start with Milan Kundera
Start with Let the Old Dead Make Room for the Young Dead (1963), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Milan Kundera book?
89 Words followed by Prague, A Disappearing Poem (2025) is the newest Milan Kundera book released so far.
Is there a new Milan Kundera book coming?
No next Milan Kundera book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Awards Milan Kundera has won
Wikidata records 14 awards for Milan Kundera. The most recent 12 are listed here. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- Franz Kafka Prize2020Won
- The prize of the BNF2012Won
- Prix mondial Cino Del Duca2009Won
- Czech State Award for Literature2007Won
- Premio Arcebispo Xoán de San Clemente de novela estranxeira2002Wonfor Ignorance
- Jaroslav Seifert Prize1994Won
- “Today” Prize1993Won
- Vilenica Prize1992Won
- Nelly Sachs Prize1987Won
- Prix de la critique1987Won
- Austrian State Prize for European Literature1987Won
- Jerusalem Prize1985Won
Milan Kundera at a glance
- Died
- Milan Kundera died in 2023, according to Wikidata.
- After death
- Books credited to Milan Kundera are still being published after Milan Kundera's death in 2023; the newest appeared in 2025.
- Release pace
- Milan Kundera books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
- Length
- 3,561 pages across the 16 of 21 books with a recorded length, a median of 202 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Milan Kundera books, 6 of 21, were published in the 1970s.
What the Milan Kundera books are about
18 of the 21 Milan Kundera books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: czech fiction is tagged on 5 of 18. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Czech fiction 5 of 18 books
- History and criticism 4 of 18 books
- Manners and customs 3 of 18 books
- Romans 3 of 18 books
- Social life and customs 3 of 18 books
- Badeort 2 of 18 books
- Criticism and interpretation 2 of 18 books
- Erotica 2 of 18 books
- Health resorts 2 of 18 books
- Liebesbeziehung 2 of 18 books
- Man-woman relationships 2 of 18 books
- Philosophy 2 of 18 books