NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT PRINT GIVEAWAY!
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 | Permalink
Four years ago today I made my first newspaper blackout poem, and to celebrate the anniversary, I’m giving away a signed, limited-edition print of “Overheard On The Titanic,” hand silkscreened by my friend, painter and printmaker Curtis Miller:
YouTube: Silkscreening Newspaper Blackout Prints
There were only 18 of these babies made: one is hanging on the wall in my library, sixteen are in a flat file waiting to be sold in the distant future, and one could belong to you.
All you have to do is leave a nice comment below, or tweet with the hashtag #newspaperblackout some time in the next week before next Monday, Oct. 26th, Midnight CT. I’ll pick the winner at random.
The giveaway is now closed. Congrats to the winner, Matt Wilson, and thanks to everyone who entered! More contests to come.
After that, you can browse the new Newspaper Blackout Archives or read my favorite poems from 2006-2008.
Thanks so much to everyone for reading! Y’all rock.
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October 20th, 2009 at 10:46 am
I soooooooo love the blackout poems,such a brilliant idea!!!
October 20th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Love your stuff! I am moving soon and would love some fresh new art work for the new place!
October 20th, 2009 at 10:50 am
i always look forward to your new poems!
October 20th, 2009 at 11:02 am
I’ve loved your stuff forever, and this is one of my very favourites!
October 20th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Nice glasses. ;)
October 20th, 2009 at 11:16 am
What turned me on to newspaper blackout poems in the first place. Would add a level of class to my dorm room. . .
October 20th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Haha!! This is probably my most favorite blackout poem. I can’t wait for the book!
October 20th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Blackout poems is super duper clever, and when I try to make my own, they never come out as witty. I bow my hat and twirl my mustache at thee good sir.
October 20th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Why didn’t they make the film / about the old couple / who prefered to drown / rather than fight for a boat?
October 20th, 2009 at 11:48 am
I don’t really think I can enter the contest, as I am in Greece, but I thought I’d better give it a try, for the love of the game. Your idea is brilliant and very inspiring. And I mean that last word to the last letter.
October 20th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Very inspirational stuff, I really like this Titanic one.
October 20th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful work! I love the way you combine elements of self-expression and hard news in such a classic design.
October 20th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Your blackout poems inspired me to start doing my own! Thanks :)
October 20th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
love the one at the top here!
October 20th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Your newspaper blackout poems are brilliant; this is one of my faves.
Happy fourth anniversary!
October 20th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Oh, this is brilliant.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Austin, my face lit up when I read about this contest! :D I’d LOVE to have such a treasure. Thanks for the opportunity!
October 20th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
This is such a simple but effective idea, and I’ve always loved it.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Awesome — I’d love one of these for my sparsely furnished apartment. (Life is tough for a just-out-of-college journalist, after all.)
October 20th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I love your Blackout Poetry! Your brilliant idea is in the mix among the staff at the library where I work, and I’m hoping that next year we get to do something inspired by your poetry in our summer youth programming!
October 20th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Yes please, yes please.
Fine work!
October 20th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
i am a fan! the blackout poems are always unique and thought provoking, extracting new life out of the mundane. a little like sculpting, carving down a mass to an essence.
i also really enjoy the de-signs you started doing, same idea, just more quick and dirty. like sketches.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
I love that poem it is so awesome! I would really love to own such a limited edition of something so original!
October 20th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
I really enjoy your work, and especially appreciate your visual notetaking! I also have a new apartment with an abundance of boring white walls.
October 20th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
My daughter is already learning words from your art! She is 16 months. I would love to hang one of these in her room to wake up to. Thank you for your inspiration and generosity.
<3 Zoe + Shari [Calgary AB Can]
October 21st, 2009 at 1:37 am
I didn’t exactly follow your directions. I bumbled about, checked out a couple or 9 of your favorites circa 2006-08 (You Must Have a Plan and The Architect’s Story rate as my faves in the bunch), I thumbed through the archives, I went for a swim. I thought how clever it would be to leave you a note in blackout/austin style. I abandoned said thought deciding that, at its most idealistically bestest, it could only be described in your future memoir as “smarmily cheddarful.” And all that landed me here: these are the coolest ten words I’ve ever seen strung together.
October 21st, 2009 at 9:40 am
Every so often I stop and remember that I’ve been reading here for multiple years now. Never regret it. Keep’em coming.
October 21st, 2009 at 9:49 am
i only just recently discovered this amazing volume of work from my friend’s blog. just wanted to say i think your idea is incredibly purely original and yet so amazing because anyone could attempt their own. it’s also such a great thing that you still love your fans and want to give away such a valuable print!
October 21st, 2009 at 10:11 am
I’d love to win, just so I could hang it on the wall and have my husband go “What is it?”.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:34 am
Amazing work – at first glance it seems easy, but reviewing the ‘in process’ graphics its clear how amazing your work is. To be able to pull words out and create – a story – a feeling – a visual. I enjoy your talent.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:05 am
Man, this comment thread is blowing my mind. I love hearing from y’all! So thrilled that people are trying their own poems! You’re really the reason I keep making these things. I mean it.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:09 am
amazing! I love it!
October 21st, 2009 at 11:11 am
I’m so happy to have a random chance to win one of your poems! When your book comes out, will you do a signing at my favorite indie, Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston? Please?!
October 21st, 2009 at 11:38 am
The Titanic one was my favorites from the voting back in June. Love your work!
October 21st, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Can your mother win???
October 21st, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Thanks for making these. I don’t follow may RSS but came across yours on kottke.org and have been hooked.
October 21st, 2009 at 4:13 pm
I wondering if hanging that in the office of our new restaurant venture would be jinxing ourselves? No matter, I want!
October 21st, 2009 at 4:59 pm
awesome! love the site.
October 21st, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Fantastic! Count me in.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Wonderful idea, and happy fourth! And I believe “Overheard on the Titanic” may be a new favorite of mine…far too many to choose from to ever know for sure, though.
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 am
Gah…Anonymous directly above happens to be me, too overzealous with the submit button. So seconded what I have already stated above, for added emphasis!
October 22nd, 2009 at 5:39 pm
I’ve loved your site for a long time! I even attempted some for a while! Congrats on four years!
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:02 pm
I love your work! I’ve tried making my own before, but they are never this good!
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Wonderful. I’m a big fan.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:28 am
That is just hands down fantastic! LOVE IT!
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:52 am
Your work is truly and simply awesome, addcited and inspiring. It’s life. :)
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:53 am
*addictive!
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:56 am
Have you really only been doing this for four years? I thought i’d been following you at least that long.
October 24th, 2009 at 11:40 am
there’s no other poem more fitted for a music-lover like me. thank you for your brain (:
October 26th, 2009 at 9:01 am
[...] Entries are due by midnight CT. [...]
October 26th, 2009 at 9:19 am
It’s hard to imagine your work has been inspiring me for so long now! I can’t imagine reading a book without doing a little mind-map while reading it.
Love the black-out poems, and am so happy for your much deserved success.
October 26th, 2009 at 9:36 am
It’s nice to see “AUSTIN KLEON >> 1 new item” in my reader feed.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:03 am
This is one of my favorite blackout poems!
October 26th, 2009 at 10:13 am
I’ve got the book on pre-order. All of y’all should too!
October 26th, 2009 at 11:52 am
I don’t have a twitter-account but I have no problem with saying something nice:
You Rock!
October 26th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
It would be nice to have a free print to go with the book I’ve already preordered :-)
October 26th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I showed blackout poems to a handful of third graders last month. They liked the technique. The NYT has a lot of big words for third grade ESL kids, but we ended up with a couple new poems.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
My good friend and work colleague, Amy Hall, has a work in your book, meaning I must order one. I am intrigued by your blackout poems and would very much like to have a print. You have definitely inspired me to attempt this mode of lyric verse along with the haikus, sonnets, and free verse I scribble.
Best of luck with the book!
October 26th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
When I come across creative brilliance like this, I suddenly feel I’ve had a few gulps of phenomenally pure water and am hit with a sense of being desperately thirsty though moments ago I’d been completely unaware of my thirst.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
I just stumbled these blackout poems one day, and have not stopped reading since (as well as sharing with my family). Can’t wait for the book to come out!
October 26th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
I absolutely love your poems. Seeing your website some months ago reinspired me. I hadn’t played with words in so long.
I do similar work with newspaper blackout poems, only I use pages from books and incorporate image. (A child looking forlorn in bumblebee wings, letters peeking through her face, “Excusez-moi?” offset above her right shoulder.)
Thanks so much for helping give art back to me.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
I would love to have one of these in my classroom. So beautiful!
October 26th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
I’m a huge fan of your poems. I also love the idea (from another person’s comment above) of using the technique in class. I may dig out some French newspapers and see what my students can do.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Recently discovered your work – straight out of the “can’t believe I didn’t think of that” school. In other words, brilliant – well done and keep up the good work!
October 28th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
[...] thanks to everyone who entered the print giveaway! Y’all left so many nice comments, I was kind of overwhelmed. I realized that the way I [...]