His works include translations from Classical Tamil and Medieval Kannada, such as:
- Translations and studies of literature
- The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology, 1967
- Speaking of Siva, 1973
- The Literatures of India. Edited with Edwin Gerow. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974
- Hymns for the Drowning, 1981
- Poems of Love and War. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985
- Folktales from India, Oral Tales from Twenty Indian Languages, 1991
- "Is There an Indian Way of Thinking?" in India Through Hindu Categories, edited by McKim Marriot, 1990
- When God Is a Customer: Telugu Courtesan Songs by Ksetrayya and Others (with Velcheru Narayana Rao and David Shulman), 1994
- A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India, 1997
- Poetry, fiction and drama
- The Striders. London: Oxford University Press, 1996
- Hokkulalli Huvilla, No Lotus in the Navel. Dharwar, 1969
- Relations. London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1971
- Selected Poems. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1976
- Samskara. (translation of U R Ananthamurthy's novel) Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1976
- Mattu Itara Padyagalu and Other Poems. Dharwar, 1977
- Second Sight. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986
A.K. Ramanujan's three books of Kannada Poetry, and a novella have been translated into English, and published by Oxford University Press. Poems And A Novella: Translated From Kannada(Hardcover - 2006-03-09)by A. K. Ramanujan (Author), Tonse N. K. Raju (Translator), Shouri Daniels-ramanujan (Translator). This collection has his poetry collections: 1) Hokkulalli Hoovilla (No Flower in the Lotus); 2) Mattu itara kategalU (And Other Poems); and 3) Kuntobille (Hopscotch). The novella in Kannada is titled "Mattobbana Atma Charitre" (Someone Else's Autobiography).