more photos (5)

Kathy Acker’s Followers (1,075)

Add New
Videos

Add a comment

Kathy Acker

Born

in New York City, New York, The United States

April 18, 1947

Died

November 30, 1997

Genre

Literature & Fiction

Influences

Black Mountain School, William S. Burroughs, David Antin, United State ...more

edit data

Born of German-Jewish stock, Kathy Acker was brought up by her mother and stepfather (her natural father left her mother before Kathy was born) in a prosperous district of NY. At 18, she left home and worked as a stripper. Her involvement in the sex industry helped to make her a hit on the NY art scene, and she was photographed by the newly fashionable Robert Mapplethorpe. Preferring to be known simply as 'Acker' (the name she took from her first husband Robert, and which she continued to use even after a short-lived second marriage to composer Peter Gordon), she moved to London in the mid-eighties and stayed in Britain for five years.

Acker's writing is as difficult to classify into any particular genre as she herself was. She writes fluidl ...more

Combine Editions
Kathy Acker’s books

Average rating: 3.58 · 18,395 ratings · 2,089 reviews · 79 distinct works • Similar authors

	Blood and Guts in High School 3.45 avg rating — 6,285 ratings — published 1984 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	New York City in 1979 3.11 avg rating — 1,811 ratings — published 1981 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Empire of the Senseless 3.67 avg rating — 1,441 ratings — published 1988 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Great Expectations 3.59 avg rating — 1,250 ratings — published 1982 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Pussy, King of the Pirates 3.58 avg rating — 884 ratings — published 1996 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Don Quixote 3.75 avg rating — 765 ratings — published 1986 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	I'm Very Into You: Correspondence, 1995-1996 by Kathy Acker, McKenzie Wark, Matias Viegener (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 3.82 avg rating — 740 ratings — published 2015 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Mother: Demonology 3.87 avg rating — 525 ratings — published 1993 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	In Memoriam to Identity 3.85 avg rating — 453 ratings — published 1990 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Portrait of an Eye: Three Novels 3.87 avg rating — 301 ratings — published 1992 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Kathy Acker…

Series by Kathy Acker

Portrait of an Eye (3 books)
by

Kathy Acker,

William Wegman (Illustrator)

3.88 avg rating — 462 ratings

Quotes by Kathy Acker (?)

“If you ask me what I want, I'll tell you. I want everything.”
― Kathy Acker

1489 likes

“Dreams are manifestations of identities.”
― Kathy Acker, Pussy, King of the Pirates

tags: dreams, identity

104 likes

“I'm no longer a child and I still want to be, to live with the pirates. Because I want to live forever in wonder. The difference between me as a child and me as an adult is this and only this: when I was a child, I longed to travel into, to live in wonder. Now, I know, as much as I can know anything, that to travel into wonder is to be wonder. So it matters little whether I travel by plane, by rowboat, or by book. Or, by dream. I do not see, for there is no I to see. That is what the pirates know. There is only seeing and, in order to go to see, one must be a pirate.”
― Kathy Acker

tags: pirates, reading, wonder

72 likes

See all Kathy Acker's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Life of a Boo...: Ellie's 2011 TBR Challenge	51	149	Sep 04, 2011 12:06PM
The Seasonal Read...: Fall Challenge 2011 Completed Tasks - DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS IN THIS TOPIC!	2264	778	Nov 30, 2011 09:05PM
Reading with Style: Spring 2012 Reading w/Style Completed Tasks	998	271	May 31, 2012 08:59PM
The Next Best Boo...: The Title Game	20235	14527	May 30, 2013 12:53PM
Chaos Reading: John Waters' Five Books You Should Read..	21	315	Jan 22, 2014 06:56AM
Nothing But Readi...: TerryJane's Challenge Tracker	9	113	Jan 12, 2016 04:38PM
Nothing But Readi...: New 2 U Authors: 2015	164	582	Jan 12, 2016 05:53PM

More…