Kathy Acker: The Last Interview and Other Conversations

Kathy Acker was a punk-rock counter-cultural icon, and innovator of the literary underground. The interviews collected here span her amazing, uncompromising, and often misunderstood 30-year career.

From Acker's earliest interviews--filled with playful, evasive, and counter-intuitive responses--to the last interview before her death where she reflects on the state of American literature, these interviews capture the writer at her funny and surprising best. Another highlight includes Acker's 1997 interview with the Spice Girls on the forces of pop and feminism (which reads as if it could have been conducted with a new generation of pop star in 2018).

Kathy Acker (1947-1997) was a novelist, poet, essayist, and playwrite. Her novels include Pussy, King of the Pirates and Blood and Guts in High School. Her work is closely associated with punk rock and experimental aesthetics. She died of cancer in 1997.


Amy Scholder has been editing and publishing progressive and literary books for over twenty years. She is currently producing with Sam Feder the documentary feature Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen.

Douglas A. Martin is the author of eight books across genres, including volumes of poetry and fiction. His latest book is Acker. He lives in Brooklyn.