In 1987–1988, Yuknavitch, then known as Lidia Yukman, collaborated with a novel-writing class at the
University of Oregon taught by
Ken Kesey that produced the book
Caverns. Although the group of authors, collectively named "O. U. Levon", are often described as graduate students, Yuknavitch was not in graduate school at the time.
Exquisite Corpse, and
TANK. Yuknavitch is associated with fellow Oregon writers
Chuck Palahniuk, who wrote the introduction to her novel
Dora: A Headcase;
Chelsea Cain, who wrote the introduction to
The Chronology of Water; Yuknavitch's 2011 memoir,
The Chronology of Water, has developed a strong following. A
Huffington Post book review noted that two years after being published, the book "keeps popping up on blogs and social media feeds." Yuknavitch said she started writing the book as a kind of dare after talking to
Chuck Palahniuk about memoir at the end of a meeting of their writers' group. The title comes from a short story Yuknavitch wrote in a writing workshop with
Diana Abu-Jaber. The film adaptation of
The Chronology of Water, written and directed by
Kristen Stewart, premiered in the
Un Certain Regard section of the
2025 Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2025. At Cannes and upon its theatrical release in late 2025, the film received largely positive reviews from critics, with Sheila O'Malley at
RogerEbert.com writing,"Stewart boldly evokes the source material."
Dora: A Headcase, is Yuknavitch's novel about
"Dora", the subject of a famous case study by
Sigmund Freud. Yuknavitch wrote that she wanted to "give Dora back her voice and 'talk back' to Freud." In 2014, the book was
optioned for a movie by
Katherine Brooks.
Random House published Yuknavitch's first short story collection,
Verge, on February 4, 2020.
Reading the Waves, published in 2025, is a finalist for the 2026
Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Literature. ==Personal life==