Austin Kleon

Pre-order now! My next book is Don’t Call It Art: 10 Ways to Create Like a Kid Again. It was inspired by my time spent as a studio assistant to my two sons when they were really little and the less...

My latest typewriter interview is with cartoonist Tom Hart.

A new Tuesday Trio: On February 10th, 2001, a group of friends held a garage sale in Denton, Texas. The sale was immortalized in a surreal, 32-minute short documentary that has since become a cult ...

The subject line for Friday’s newsletter came from G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy: “Stories of magic alone can express my sense that life is not only a pleasure but a kind of eccentric privilege. I ma...

In the tradition of the past two years (see: Feb. 2024: “Music in the Key of Love” and Feb. 2025: “Love is Not a Gadget”), I made a love-themed February mixtape from a sealed, pre-recorded cassette...

These exquisite corpses we made at dinner gave me the idea to write about my favorite drawing game.

I used this 2016 blackout poem for last Friday’s newsletter, “The year is too young to be this long.” A few people commented that they couldn’t believe it was made 10 years ago. This is the thing a...

In desperate need of distraction and something to look forward to, I’ve been having a blast writing my new “Tuesday Trio” series for the Tuesday newsletter. In each letter, I recommend one book, on...

Here’s the first mixtape of 2026! Made from a sealed, pre-recorded cassette I got for 99 cents. I taped over the cassette’s protection tabs and then I taped over the music and then I taped over the...

In today’s newsletter, I wrote about the best way to read the internet.

I’ve been having fun posting lines from whatever Montaigne essay I happen to be reading. The latest: “Perhaps we really do live in a time which begets nothing but the mediocre.” —Michel de Montaign...

“…the wheeling seasons brought the year around…” —Homer, The Odyssey 3 years ago I built a little widget for the sidebar of this blog that displays posts that were published “on this date.” I love ...

Today’s newsletter begins: “Evil fortune does have some use: it is a good thing to be born in a century which is deeply depraved, for by comparison with others you are reckoned virtuous on the chea...

I wrote and illustrated a book in 2025, so the purpose of reading was, primarily, not for more writing, but to escape writing. I didn’t give myself any quotas or any goals. I didn’t worry about wha...

My latest typewriter interview is with artist Tucker Nichols. This answer made me laugh and think of Ghostbusters: Janine Melnitz: Do you have any hobbies? Dr. Egon Spengler: I collect spores, mold...

From a WSJ review of Elizabeth McCracken’s A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction: Ms. McCracken refuses to link process and outcome in fiction, so the whole endeavor retains its mysterious sheen. B...