Order of Book Series
0

R.K. Narayan Books in Order

42 books are credited to R.K. Narayan, published between 1935 and 2003; 1 of them appeared after R.K. Narayan's death in 2001. The first book is Swami and Friends (1935) and the newest is Malgudi Landscapes (2003). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
42
Published
1935–2003
Pages on record
4,796 in 19 of 42 books
See all 42 books in order Printable R.K. Narayan checklist
Photo of R.K. Narayan, author

Malgudi, an invented South Indian town, is the setting R.K. Narayan returned to across his fiction. Born Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayanaswami (1906-2001), Narayan stood with Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao among the first Indian novelists writing in English, and took the AC Benson Medal in 1980 and honorary membership of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1981. The catalogue lists 42 titles from Swami and Friends (1935) to Malgudi Landscapes (2003), taking in The Bachelor of Arts, The English Teacher and The Financial Expert. Everyday life caught between tradition and modernity is the standing subject.

How many R.K. Narayan books are there?

R.K. Narayan has 42 books, released between 1935 and 2003. 1 of them were published after R.K. Narayan's death in 2001.

R.K. Narayan Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 42 R.K. Narayan 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.

  1. Cover of The Bachelor of Arts by R.K. Narayan (1937)
  2. Cover of Malgudi Days by R.K. Narayan (1942)
  3. Cover of The Vendor of Sweets by R.K. Narayan (1967)
  4. Cover of A Horse and Two Goats by R.K. Narayan (1970)
  5. Cover of The Mahabharata by R.K. Narayan (1978)
  6. Cover of A Breath of Lucifer by R.K. Narayan (1985)
  7. Cover of Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories by R.K. Narayan (1985)
  8. Cover of Talkative Man by R.K. Narayan (1986)
  9. Cover of A Writer's Nightmare by R.K. Narayan (1988)
  10. Cover of A Story-teller's World by R.K. Narayan (1990)
  11. Cover of Grandmother's Tale by R.K. Narayan (1992)
  12. Cover of Tales from Malgudi by R.K. Narayan (1995)
  13. Cover of The Indian Epics Retold by R.K. Narayan (1995)
  14. Cover of Raghubir Singh: Tamil Nadu by R.K. Narayan (1996)
  15. Cover of More Tales From Malgudi by R.K. Narayan (1997)
  16. Cover of The Writerly Life by R.K. Narayan (2001)
  17. Cover of Malgudi Landscapes by R.K. Narayan (2003)
  1. 1
    Swami and Friends1935 · confirmed 1/4
    1935–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    The Bachelor of Arts1937 · 264 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1937264
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    The Dark Room1938 · 220 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1938220
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Malgudi Days1942 · 264 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1942264
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    Mysore1944 · confirmed 1/4
    1944–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    The English Teacher1945 · confirmed 1/4
    1945–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    Mr. Sampath--the Printer of Malgudi1948 · confirmed 1/4
    1948–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    The Financial Expert1951 · confirmed 1/4
    1951–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    Waiting for the Mahatma1955 · confirmed 1/4
    1955–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 11
    The Guide1958 · confirmed 1/4
    1958–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 12
    My Dateless Diary1960 · confirmed 1/4
    1960–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 13
    Grateful to Life & Death1961 · confirmed 1/4
    1961–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 14
    The Man-Eater of Malgudi1961 · confirmed 1/4
    1961–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 15
    Gods, Demons, and Others1964 · confirmed 1/4
    1964–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 16
    The Vendor of Sweets1967 · 140 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1967140
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 17
    A Horse and Two Goats1970 · 148 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1970148
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 18
    Next Sunday1972 · confirmed 1/4
    1972–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 19
    The Ramayana1972 · 157 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1972157
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 20
    My Days: A Memoir1973 · confirmed 1/4
    1973–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  20. 21
    Reluctant Guru1974 · confirmed 1/4
    1974–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  21. 22
    The Painter of Signs1976 · confirmed 1/4
    1976–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  22. 23
    The Mahabharata1978 · 182 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1978182
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  23. 24
    The Emerald Route1980 · confirmed 1/4
    1980–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  24. 25
    Uncle1980 · confirmed 1/4
    1980–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  25. 26
    A Tiger for Malgudi1983 · confirmed 1/4
    1983–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  26. 27
    A Breath of Lucifer1985 · confirmed 1/4
    1985–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  27. 29
    Talkative Man1986 · 128 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1986128
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  28. 30
    A Writer's Nightmare1988 · 240 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1988240
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

R.K. Narayan 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

42 books

42 R.K. Narayan titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read R.K. Narayan books in order?

No. No source lists any of the 42 R.K. Narayan books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.

Where to start with R.K. Narayan

Start with Swami and Friends (1935), the earliest published title.

What is the newest R.K. Narayan book?

Malgudi Landscapes (2003) is the newest R.K. Narayan book released so far.

Is there a new R.K. Narayan book coming?

No next R.K. Narayan 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 R.K. Narayan has won

Wikidata records 2 awards and 2 nominations for R.K. Narayan. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.

  • Benson Medal1979Won
  • Sahitya Akademi Award in English1960Wonfor The Guide
  • Nobel Prize in Literature1975Shortlisted
  • Nobel Prize in Literature1974Shortlisted

R.K. Narayan at a glance

Died
R.K. Narayan died in 2001, according to Wikidata.
After death
Books credited to R.K. Narayan are still being published after R.K. Narayan's death in 2001; the newest appeared in 2003.
Release pace
R.K. Narayan books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
Length
4,796 pages across the 19 of 42 books with a recorded length, a median of 186 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most R.K. Narayan books, 8 of 42, were published in the 1990s.

What the R.K. Narayan books are about

19 of the 42 R.K. Narayan books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: india is tagged on 5 of 19. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.

  • India 5 of 19 books
  • Malgudi (India : Imaginary place) 5 of 19 books
  • Social life and customs 4 of 19 books
  • Adaptations 2 of 19 books
  • City and town life 2 of 19 books
  • Epic literature, Sanskrit 2 of 19 books
  • Indic literature 2 of 19 books
  • Indic literature (English) 2 of 19 books
  • Malgudi 2 of 19 books
  • Short stories 2 of 19 books