Akhmadulina completed her education at the Gorky Literary Institute in 1960, after which she traveled in Central Asia. She was eventually admitted to the Soviet Writers' Union, although her uncompromisingly individualistic work elicited official criticism and met with some difficulty in publication. Like her fellow poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, to whom she was married during the 1950s, she drew audiences of thousands at readings of her work.

Her first collection, Struna (“The Harp String”), appeared in 1962. The long poem “Moya rodoslovnaya” (1964; “My Family Tree”), the title of which alludes to a poem by Aleksandr Pushkin from 1830, is marked by ambitious but assured experimentation in both theme and technique. The creative act was a recurring theme in her work. Subsequent volumes include Uroki muzyki (1969; “Music Lessons”), Stikhi (1975; “Poems”), and Taina (1983; “Secret”). Akhmadulina also published translations of poetry from Georgian and other languages. In 1990 F.D. Reeve edited, translated, and introduced new and selected poetry by Akhmadulina in a book entitled The Garden.