Robert Penn Warren Books in Order
69 books are credited to Robert Penn Warren, published between 1929 and 2014; 12 of them appeared after Robert Penn Warren's death in 1989. The first book is John Brown (1929) and the newest is Importance of Productivity (2014). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 69
- Published
- 1929–2014
- Pages on record
- 11,655 in 40 of 69 books
- Reading time
- 194–291 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 11,655 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 40 of 69 titles with a page count on record.

Robert Penn Warren is the only writer to have received Pulitzer Prizes in both fiction and poetry: the 1947 novel prize for All the King's Men (1946), and the poetry prize in 1958 and again in 1979. Born on April 24, 1905, and dying on September 15, 1989, Warren worked as a poet, novelist, critic and Yale professor. Warren was a founding figure of New Criticism and a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, and co-founded The Southern Review in 1935 alongside Cleanth Brooks. Yale gave Warren an honorary Doctor of Letters in 1973. Catalogued books number 69, among them John Brown (1929), Understanding Poetry (1938), Night Rider (1939) and At Heaven's Gate (1943).
How many Robert Penn Warren books are there?
Robert Penn Warren has 69 books, released between 1929 and 2014. 12 of them were published after Robert Penn Warren's death in 1989. 5 of them belong to the Robert Penn Warren Letters series.
Robert Penn Warren Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 69 Robert Penn Warren 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.
- 1John Brown1929 · 474 pages · confirmed 1/419294741/4
- 2Understanding Poetry1938 · 602 pages · confirmed 1/419386021/4
- 3Night Rider1939 · 460 pages · confirmed 1/419394601/4
- 4Selected Poems 1923-19431942 · confirmed 1/41942–1/4
- 5Eleven Poems on the Same Theme1942 · confirmed 1/41942–1/4
- 6At Heaven's Gate1943 · 391 pages · confirmed 1/419433911/4
- 7Selected Poems of Robert Penn Warren1944 · 285 pages · confirmed 1/419442851/4
- 81946–1/4
- 9Melville the poet1946 · confirmed 1/41946–1/4
- 10The Circus in the Attic1947 · 276 pages · confirmed 1/419472761/4
- 111950–1/4
- 12World Enough and Time1950 · 465 pages · confirmed 1/419504651/4
- 13William Faulkner And His South1951 · confirmed 1/41951–1/4
- 14Brother to Dragons1953 · 141 pages · confirmed 1/419531411/4
- 15Band of Angels1955 · 375 pages · confirmed 1/419553751/4
- 16Segregation1956 · 66 pages · confirmed 1/41956661/4
- 17Promises: Poems 1954-19561957 · confirmed 1/41957–1/4
- 18Selected Essays1958 · confirmed 1/41958–1/4
- 191958–2/4
- 201959641/4
- 21The Cave1959 · 403 pages · confirmed 1/419594031/4
- 22All the King's Men1960 · 134 pages · confirmed 1/419601341/4
- 23You, Emperors, And Others1960 · confirmed 1/41960–1/4
- 24Wilderness1961 · 310 pages · confirmed 1/419613101/4
- 25The Legacy of the Civil War1961 · 109 pages · confirmed 1/419611091/4
- 26Flood1964 · confirmed 1/41964–1/4
- 27Who Speaks for the Negro?1965 · 460 pages · confirmed 1/419654601/4
- 28Selected Poems: New and Old, 1923-19661966 · confirmed 1/41966–1/4
- 29Faulkner1967 · 311 pages · confirmed 1/419673111/4
- 30Incarnations1968 · confirmed 1/41968–1/4
- 31Audubon1969 · confirmed 1/41969–1/4
- 32Why do we read fiction?1971 · confirmed 1/41971–1/4
- 33Homage to Theodore Dreiser1971 · 173 pages · confirmed 1/419711731/4
- 34Meet Me In The Green Glen1974 · 376 pages · confirmed 1/419743761/4
- 35Or Else1974 · 102 pages · confirmed 1/419741021/4
- 36Democracy and Poetry1975 · 96 pages · confirmed 1/41975961/4
- 37New and Selected Poems, 1923-19851976 · 325 pages · confirmed 1/419763251/4
- 38A conversation with Robert Penn Warren1976 · confirmed 1/41976–1/4
- 39A Time to Hear and Answer1976 · 218 pages · confirmed 1/419762181/4
- 401977–1/4
- 41A Place to Come To1977 · 395 pages · confirmed 1/419773951/4
- 421978–1/4
- 43Modern Rhetoric1979 · 401 pages · confirmed 1/419794011/4
- 44Katherine Anne Porter1979 · 195 pages · confirmed 1/419791951/4
- 451980–1/4
- 46Being Here: Poetry 1977-19801980 · 108 pages · confirmed 1/419801081/4
- 47Jefferson Davis Gets His Citizenship Back1980 · 114 pages · confirmed 1/419801141/4
- 48Robert Penn Warren Talking1980 · 304 pages · confirmed 1/419803041/4
- 491981–1/4
- 50Rumor Verified1981 · 97 pages · confirmed 1/41981971/4
- 51Love: Four Versions1981 · confirmed 1/41981–1/4
- 52Have You Ever Eaten Stars? Poems 1979-19801981 · confirmed 1/41981–1/4
- 531983641/4
- 54I'll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition1983 · confirmed 1/41983–1/4
- 55New And Selected Poems 1960-19851986 · 87 pages · confirmed 1/41986871/4
- 56Portrait of a Father1988 · 79 pages · confirmed 1/41988791/4
- 57New and Selected Essays1989 · 423 pages · confirmed 1/419894231/4
- 58Talking with Robert Penn Warren1990 · 419 pages · confirmed 1/419904191/4
- 59The Collected Poems of Robert Penn Warren1998 · 830 pages · confirmed 1/419988301/4
- 60Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren: A Literary Correspondence1998 · 444 pages · confirmed 1/419984441/4
- 612000–1/4
- 622001–1/4
- 63Selected Letters of Robert Penn Warren, Volume ThreeRobert Penn Warren Letters #32005 · 485 pages · confirmed 1/420054851/4
- 64Selected Letters of Robert Penn Warren, Volume FourRobert Penn Warren Letters #42008 · 560 pages · confirmed 1/420085601/4
- 65Selected Letters of Robert Penn Warren, Volume FiveRobert Penn Warren Letters #52011 · confirmed 1/42011–1/4
- 66Now and Then: Poems, 1976-19782012 · confirmed 1/42012–1/4
- 67How Texas Won Her Freedom: The Story Of Sam Houston And The Battle Of San Jacinto2012 · confirmed 1/42012–1/4
- 68Significance of Best Dog: Importance of Keeping Best Dog2014 · 34 pages · confirmed 1/42014341/4
- 69Importance of Productivity2014 · confirmed 1/42014–1/4
Robert Penn Warren 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.
Chap in order
8 booksRobert Penn Warren Letters in order
5 booksU.S. Landmark Non-Fiction
1 book1 title published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
Standalone books
55 books55 Robert Penn Warren titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Robert Penn Warren books in order?
You only need to read Robert Penn Warren books in order within the Robert Penn Warren Letters series, which holds 5 of the 69 Robert Penn Warren books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with Robert Penn Warren
Start with John Brown (1929), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Robert Penn Warren book?
Importance of Productivity (2014) is the newest Robert Penn Warren book released so far.
Is there a new Robert Penn Warren book coming?
No next Robert Penn Warren 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 Robert Penn Warren has won
Wikidata records 8 awards and 7 nominations for Robert Penn Warren. The most recent 12 are listed here. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- Robert Frost Medal1985Won
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry1979Won
- Bollingen Prize1967Won
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry1958Won
- National Book Award1958Won
- The Hillman Prize for Magazine Journalism1957Won
- Pulitzer Prize for the Novel1947Wonfor All the King's Men
- Shelley Memorial Award1943Won
- Neustadt International Prize for Literature1982Shortlisted
- National Book Award for Poetry1981Shortlisted
- Nobel Prize in Literature1965Shortlisted
- National Book Award for Fiction1960Shortlisted
Robert Penn Warren at a glance
- Died
- Robert Penn Warren died in 1989, according to Wikidata.
- After death
- Books credited to Robert Penn Warren are still being published after Robert Penn Warren's death in 1989; the newest appeared in 2014.
- Release pace
- Robert Penn Warren books have appeared about one a year on average.
- Length
- 11,655 pages across the 40 of 69 books with a recorded length, a median of 307 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Robert Penn Warren books, 13 of 69, were published in the 1980s.
What the Robert Penn Warren books are about
42 of the 69 Robert Penn Warren books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: authors is tagged on 9 of 42. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Authors 9 of 42 books
- History 7 of 42 books
- Poetry 7 of 42 books
- Critics 6 of 42 books
- Intellectual life 6 of 42 books
- Warren, robert penn, 1905-1989 5 of 42 books
- Correspondence 4 of 42 books
- Homes and haunts 4 of 42 books
- African Americans 3 of 42 books























