AUSTIN KLEON : ABOUT

Photo of Austin Kleon sketching on the balcony of The Mohawk

Sketching on the balcony of The Mohawk, in Austin, TX // Photo by Chris Glass

“I like to think of myself as a writer who draws.”
—Saul Steinberg

I’m a writer, artist, and visual thinker obsessed with the art of communicating with pictures and words, together.

I’m probably best known for my Newspaper Blackout Poems—poetry made by redacting words from newspaper articles with a permanent marker. I started making them in 2005 when I was right out of college and facing a nasty case of writer’s block. The poems spread around the internet, and in April 2010, Harper Perennial published a collection, Newspaper Blackout. New York Magazine called the book “highbrow/brilliant” and The New Yorker said the poems “resurrect the newspaper when everyone else is declaring it dead.” Read all about it.

I draw cartoons and take visual notes at live events in my sketchbook for folks such as Austin City Limits, TEDxAustin, and SXSW.

I’m fascinated by the possibilities of being online, and I’m always thinking about how to use the web as a medium to make things happen. I design websites, I make videos, I blog, I tumble, and I tweet.

I’m a “big picture” guy who loves to talk. I get a kick out of teaching folks how to create better work through visual thinking and play. See my speaking page for more.

I grew up in the middle of a cornfield in southern Ohio. I quickly learned that books and music are the things that keep me happy and sane. I read, read, read, and whenever I get the chance, I sit at the piano or pick up the guitar and write songs.

After spending the first two decades of my life in Ohio, I now live in Austin, Texas with my wife Meghan and our dog Milo.

A little more about me: