More photos…

One-sentence bio: I’m a writer who draws.

Third-person bio:

Austin Kleon is a writer, cartoonist, and web designer. He’s best known for his Newspaper Blackout Poems—poetry made by redacting words from newspaper articles with a permanent marker. His first book, Newspaper Blackout, is forthcoming from Harper Perennial in April 2010. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Meghan, and their dog, Milo. You can see his work online at: www.austinkleon.com.

My work:

I’m a visual thinker who is obsessed with the art of communicating with pictures and words, together. I love to write about the subject and teach it.

I draw cartoons and take visual notes at live events for folks such as Austin City Limits and South By Southwest. I also doodle a lot in my sketchbook

If you like my Newspaper Blackout Poems, check out my de-Signs: iPhone snapshots of signs redacted into one-liners.

My day job is designing websites for the University of Texas School of Law.

My story:

I was born in 1983 outside of Circleville, Ohio—a small-town known for its pumpkins. Spent the first two decades of my life surrounded by the cornfields of southern Ohio. Read and drew a lot. Took classical piano lessons and wrote songs and played a lot of guitar. Studied art, literature, and writing at Miami University’s now-defunct School of Interdisciplinary Studies (aka Western College Program), a wonderful place, where I met my wife. Studied overseas in Florence, Italy and Cambridge, England. Wrote my thesis on using drawing and visual thinking techniques to build worlds for prose fiction. Moved to Cleveland, got a job as a reference librarian. Started a blog. Wrote and drew a lot. Got married. Moved to Texas. Got a job as a web designer. Got a book deal. Still working a 9-5.

See also:

• My story, animated: The Battle Between Pictures and Words
• My life in tumblr tags

How to best get to know me and my work:

Start with my blog, where I post all my art and writing.

Then check out my 140-character thoughts over on Twitter, and my photos and in-progress works on Flickr.

If you’re interested in stuff I’m looking at on the net, I keep a tumblelog, which is like a digital scrapbook.

For a more lengthy resume, you can visit my LinkedIn profile.

How to contact me:

You can @reply me on Twitter: @austinkleon

You can drop me an e-mail:

austinkleon [at] gmail [dot] com

Or you can mail me something:

P.O. Box 8770
Austin, Texas 78713

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Praise for my work

A poet in Texas is blacking out words in order to write. Instead of starting with a blank page, Austin Kleon grabs the New York Times and a permanent marker and eliminates the words he doesn’t need. — NPR’s Morning Edition

Sort of like Michelangelo carving away the marble that imprisoned what he saw within.—Cleveland Plain Dealer

One can imagine taking up blackout poetry on their daily bus commute in place of sudoku or the crossword puzzle.— Toronto’s National Post

Some of the results are hilarious, some are profound and even unsettling, but they are never bland or boring.—The Ephemerist

Part “writing with constrictions,” part happy accident, part found art, part design challenge…the collection…gives a well rounded and consistent view into a guy most of us would want to buy a beer. —Radio Exile

More Press

“Austin Kleon: One Sharpie Dude“
Austin360.com

Interviews

With Design Feast,
July 2009

With The Oklahoman,
February 2009

With Mitchell Knox,
November 2008