Author Guide · Music Memoir & Art Writing
Books Written by
Kim Gordon moved to New York in 1980 to make art and write about it, and in 1981 she and Thurston Moore started Sonic Youth, the band she played bass in for thirty years. It ended in 2011, when their marriage did. Girl in a Band, published in February 2015, is her account of both, and of the Los Angeles childhood and art training that came before. Her other books come from the art side of her life: a collection of her writing on art, a visual memoir of photographs and artwork, and an anthology of essays on music by women that she co-edited. This guide covers her 4 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 4 key books · 2014–2022 · Updated October 2026
ClickTap a spine to jump to that book below.
Quick answer
Kim Gordon’s best-known book is the memoir Girl in a Band (2015). She has also published Is It My Body? (2014), a collection of her art writing, the visual memoir No Icon (2020) and, as co-editor with Sinéad Gleeson, This Woman’s Work (2022). Start with Girl in a Band. Read on for where the others fit.
Where to Start with Kim Gordon
If you want her story and Sonic Youth’s
→ Girl in a Band (2015) — the 2015 memoir.
If you want her life in pictures
→ No Icon (2020) — photographs, artwork and short texts.
If you want her writing on art
→ Is It My Body? (2014) — essays from the art world.
If you want women writing about music
→ This Woman’s Work (2022) — the anthology she co-edited.
4 Kim Gordon Books, in Order
Is It My Body?
Published by Sternberg Press in 2014 and edited by the art historian Branden W. Joseph. It collects her writing on art and music, including pieces from her early years as an artist in New York, before and alongside Sonic Youth.
Girl in a Band
Published in February 2015. It covers her childhood in California, art school, her move to New York, thirty years in Sonic Youth, motherhood, and her marriage to and divorce from Thurston Moore, including his affair. The title comes from a line in the Sonic Youth song “Sacred Trickster” (2009). Her comments on other musicians, including Lana Del Rey and Courtney Love, drew attention on publication.
No Icon
Published by Rizzoli in 2020. A book of photographs, artwork, clippings and short writings from across her life and career, arranged as a visual memoir.
This Woman’s Work
Co-edited with the Irish writer Sinéad Gleeson and published in 2022. An anthology of essays about music, by women writers and musicians.
In What Order to Read Kim Gordon
Start with Girl in a Band, the only full memoir. It gives the story the other books assume: the Los Angeles childhood, the art training, New York in the early 1980s and Sonic Youth.
No Icon works as a picture companion to the memoir. Is It My Body? is for readers interested in her as an artist and critic; This Woman’s Work is an anthology of other writers, chosen with Sinéad Gleeson.
A reading path
1. Girl in a Band (2015)
2. No Icon (2020)
3. Is It My Body? (2014)
4. This Woman’s Work (2022)
The years · 1953–2024
Quick facts about Kim Gordon
- Known for
- Kim Gordon is the bassist and singer who co-founded Sonic Youth, an artist, and the author of the memoir Girl in a Band.
- 1953
- Born in Rochester, New York
- 1981
- Co-founds Sonic Youth
- 2015
- Girl in a Band
- 2024
- The Collective, Grammy-nominated
- Born
- 28 April 1953, Rochester, New York; grew up in Los Angeles
- Education
- BFA, Otis College of Art and Design (1977)
- Band
- Sonic Youth, 1981–2011, with Thurston Moore
- Solo albums
- No Home Record (2019), The Collective (2024), Play Me (2026)
- Art
- Museum show Kim Gordon: Lo-Fi Glamour, Andy Warhol Museum (2019)
- Memoir
- Girl in a Band (2015)
The red mark is 2015: Girl in a Band, her memoir, published four years after Sonic Youth ended.
How Kim Gordon Writes
Gordon came to writing through the art world: her early writing on art from her New York years is collected in Is It My Body?. The pieces are short and observational, about artists, images and the culture around them.
Girl in a Band turns that eye on her own life, moving through the places she lived and worked, and is frank about the end of her marriage to Thurston Moore and about other musicians she worked with.
No Icon drops most of the prose and lets images carry the story. For other musicians who are also writers and artists, see the guides to Patti Smith and David Byrne.
Watch
Kim Gordon on Girl in a Band
Kim Gordon talks with Aimee Mann about her memoir Girl in a Band at Live Talks Los Angeles in 2015.
Frequently asked questions about Kim Gordon’s books
How many books has Kim Gordon written?
Four key books: Is It My Body? (2014), Girl in a Band (2015), No Icon (2020) and This Woman’s Work (2022), which she co-edited. She has also made artist’s books, such as Chronicles, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 for the publisher Nieves.
What are Kim Gordon’s books in order?
Is It My Body? Selected Texts (2014), Girl in a Band (2015), No Icon (2020) and This Woman’s Work: Essays on Music (2022, with Sinéad Gleeson).
Where should I start with Kim Gordon?
With Girl in a Band (2015), her memoir.
What is Kim Gordon’s most famous book?
Girl in a Band, her 2015 memoir of her life, Sonic Youth and her marriage to Thurston Moore.
Where does the title Girl in a Band come from?
From a line in the Sonic Youth song “Sacred Trickster”, on the album The Eternal (2009).
Does Girl in a Band talk about Thurston Moore?
Yes. She writes about their marriage, the affair that ended it, and the end of Sonic Youth in 2011 after they separated.
Why was Girl in a Band controversial?
Mainly for her remarks about other musicians. She described Lana Del Rey as “just a persona” and wrote critically about Courtney Love’s behaviour when they worked together in 1991. Gordon later said she had meant that Del Rey’s image was a persona and could have put the point better.
Is Girl in a Band worth reading if you don’t know Sonic Youth?
It covers New York’s art and music scene from 1980 on, and her childhood and art training, as well as the band, and explains the music as it goes.
Is Kim Gordon still making music?
Yes. After Sonic Youth she released the solo albums No Home Record (2019), The Collective (2024), which was nominated for a Grammy, and Play Me (2026).
Footnotes
- Kim Gordon — Wikipedia
- In her unromantic memoir, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon leaves her breakups behind — PBS NewsHour
- Kim Gordon interview on her memoir and Lana Del Rey — NME
- Is It My Body? by Kim Gordon — Penguin Random House
- Kim Gordon: No Icon — Rizzoli
- Kim Gordon: Lo-Fi Glamour — The Andy Warhol Museum
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
If this shelf interested you, the full bookshelf has more: reading lists by theme, author guides, and notes on what is actually worth your time.
Browse the full bookshelf Get book recommendations