landing page

"Adrian's writing remains hypnotic on every subject."

—Tin House

Hello, this is Kim Adrian. Well, this is my website. Perhaps you'd like to learn something about my writing? Please read on for a few highlights.
*
My latest book, Dear Knausgaard, is written as a series of letters to the Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knuasgaard. It's a hybrid thing: part memoir, part literary criticism, part feminist analysis of Knausgaard’s six-volume autobiographical novel, My Struggle. Though ultimately I think of Dear Knausgaard as an ode to the art of reading.
Publisher:
Fiction Advocate

Released:
August 25, 2020

Paperback 194 pp.
“On display is a rigorous mind, a fiery intellect, a curious and engaged reader."

—The Boston Globe

“Ruthlessly interrogates the work and the literary world at large, especially the misogyny that she finds in both places.”

—Publisher's Weekly

“A heady, thoughtful response to a heady, thoughtful multi-volume work.”

—Vol. 1 Brooklyn

*
The Twenty-Seventh Letter of the Alphabet is a memoir written in the form of a glossary. The glossary was a way for me to express how hard I have tried, over the years, to parse, decode, and organize the mess of my childhood, the deep chaos of my mother's mental illness, and the long trail of generational trauma behind that illness.
Publisher:
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA

Released:
October 01, 2018

Paperback 304 pp.
“Whimsical, even darkly funny at times, brimming with compassion, terribly sad and deeply loving.”

—Shelf Awareness

“Glints with poetry and wisdom. . . . Aching, endless, unresolved, and extremely compelling.”

—Los Angeles Review of Books

“A stunning merger of form and content; remarkable portrait-becomes-self-portrait.”

—David Shields, author of Reality Hunger

*
My first published book, Sock, was written for Bloomsbury's Object Lessons series, and yes, it really is about socks. Socks are interesting because they are so very ordinary. So overlooked. (I'm always one for the underdog, even if it's a material object.)
Publisher:
Bloomsbury

Released:
September 17, 2017

Paperback 144 pp.
“An utterly engaging investigation . . . Illuminating, erudite, deeply intelligent.”

—Los Angeles Review of Books

“Reflects on the brilliance present in the minutiae of our lives.”

—Shelf Awareness

“A thoroughly delightful discussion.”

—Washington Independent Review of Books

*
If you would like to read some of my essays and short stories, here's the place to do it. If you would like to learn about the anthology I edited, The Shell Game: Writers Play with Borrowed Forms, just click the title. If you're a writer interested in taking a class with me, please sign up for my newsletter for writers, where I announce upcoming classes. My third-person bio and press links can be found on this page, news and events on this one. If you'd like to send me a note or get in touch with my agent, you can do so here.

Thank you for visiting.