Sketching on the balcony of The Mohawk, in Austin, TX // Photo by Chris Glass
I’m a writer who draws.
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Austin Kleon is a writer, artist, speaker, and New York Times best-selling author. He’s written two books: Steal Like An Artist, an illustrated manifesto for creativity in the digital age, and Newspaper Blackout, a collection of poetry made by redacting newspaper articles with a permanent marker. His art has been called “brilliant” by New York Magazine and The New Yorker said his poems “resurrect the newspaper when everyone else is declaring it dead.” His work has been featured on 20×200.com, NPR’s Morning Edition, and PBS Newshour, and in The Atlantic, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal. He’s spoken about creativity, visual thinking, and being an artist online for organizations such as Pixar, Google, SXSW, TEDx, and The Economist. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Meghan, and their dog, Milo. Visit him online at www.austinkleon.com.
I’m a writer, artist, author, and speaker obsessed with the art of communicating with pictures and words, together. I grew up in the cornfields of Ohio, but now I live in Austin, Texas, with my wife, Meghan, and our dog, Milo.
Read interviews, watch video, and more on my press page.
You can follow me on Twitter or join my mailing list.
To get in touch, drop me a line.
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I’ve written two best-selling books.
Steal Like An Artist is an illustrated manifesto of 10 things I wish I’d heard about being creative when I was first starting out. A New York Times best seller, the book has gathered praise from all sorts of artists and creative folks, including Rosanne Cash, who called it “brilliant and real and true.”
Newspaper Blackout is a collection of poetry made by redacting words from newspaper articles with a permanent marker. Named a best seller in 2010 by the Poetry Foundation, New York Magazine called the book “brilliant‚” and The New Yorker said the poems “resurrect the newspaper when everyone else is declaring it dead.”
I sell limited-edition prints of my art.
A 20×200 artist, my work has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, PBS Newshour, Oprah.com, Swiss-Miss, Kottke.org, and in fine publications such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The Wall Street Journal.
I love to speak and draw at events.
I’ve given talks and workshops on creativity, visual thinking, and being an artist online for organizations such as Pixar, Google, SXSW, TEDx, AIGA, and The Economist. See video of me in action→
My visual note-taking is like cartoon journalism: I listen for the stories and “ideas worth stealing,” and then I turn them into drawings. See examples of my work→
See where I’ll be next on my events page →
B. June 16, 1983, Circleville, Ohio
Education:
B Phil. in Interdisciplinary Studies,
Miami University
Pronunciation:
Austin, like the city.
Kleon, rhymes with neon.
Aw-stin Clee-on.
Origin of name:
“Austin” was a family name before Texas was a state. “Kleon” is Romanian.
