An Interview with Austin Kleon: A Writer Who Draws

Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of a trilogy of illustrated books about creativity in the digital age: Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going. He’s also the author of Newspaper Blackout a collection of poems made by redacting the newspaper with a permanent marker. His books have over a million copies in print and have been translated into over two dozen languages. Austin Kleon has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, PBS Newshour, and in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. New York Magazine called his work “brilliant,” The Atlantic called him “positively one of the most interesting people on the Internet,” and The New Yorker said his poems “resurrect the newspaper when everybody else is declaring it dead.” Austin Kleon speaks for organizations such as Pixar, Google, SXSW, TEDx, and The Economist. Please enjoy my interview with the very talented Austin Kleon.

How do you describe your occupation?

I’m a writer who draws.

What is something about you that people might find surprising?

Wendell Berry has a poem called “A Warning To My Readers” that begins: “Do not think me gentle / because I speak in praise / of gentleness…” My books are me at my most encouraging and helpful, so my readers might be surprised by my curmudgeonly tendencies in “real” life…

the library bookthe library book

What are you reading at the moment and what made you want to read it?

I’m a former librarian and library evangelist, so The Library Book by Susan Orlean was the perfect thing for a trip to Los Angeles.

The Library Book by Susan OrleanThe Library Book by Susan Orlean

Can you talk us through your research process when preparing for a new book?

I’m weird in that I sort of research out in the open as I go. Most of my books start as stray thoughts on Twitter or in my diary that I then flesh out into blog posts that I’ll later mash together and rewrite and repurpose into my talks, which then become book chapters. My books are almost “greatest hits” albums in a way because they organize and crystallize all the stuff I’ve been thinking and writing about for the past couple of years into a durable form that will (hopefully) last longer than the original ephemera that produced them. Really, nothing I’m doing is that different than what Thoreau did 150 years ago, writing in his journal, turning the journal entries into lectures, and then turning those lectures into books. (David Sedaris works the same way.)

What was the last book you purchased, and why did you buy it?

I bought the final volume of The Complete Peanuts by Charles Schulz because we were missing the very last years of the strip, 1999-2000, which contained the wonderfully weird Rerun storyline in which he draws “underground” comics.

The Complete Peanuts by Charles SchulzThe Complete Peanuts by Charles Schulz

For someone starting out in your career, which three books would you make required reading and why?

Well, this is a funny question to answer, because I just completed a trilogy of books for people trying to be writers and artists. But that seems cheap, somehow, to recommend my own books, so I’ll try to recommend books that influenced my books. First up, What It Is by Lynda Barry. It’s my favorite book about writing and meeting Lynda had a huge impact on my work. Second, Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, which I think continues to resonate with people in all fields who use pictures and words. Third, The Gift by Lewis Hyde, a book about navigating between the worlds of art and commerce, which, again, like all good books, just seems to get more relevant with time.

What book have you found most inspiring, what effect did it have on you?

For the past few years I’ve been reading an abridged edition of Thoreau’s journal (The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 1837-1861, NYRB Classics edition) and what I do is, I have little sticky note tabs on the current date for each year, and I flip through it every day to see if he wrote anything on that date. I’ve lapped myself and I’m about one and a half times through now, and it’s just an incredible way to read him. It brings out how obsessed with the seasons he was, and how each season he would repeat himself, bringing up the same ideas over and over and refining them. Thoreau has taught me: 1) Take a walk every day 2) Come back and write about it.

The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 1837-1861The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 1837-1861

What’s the most obscure book you own; how did you discover it?

The most obscure books I own that I’d like everyone to know about are a pair of books by a painter named Sylvia Fein. She quit painting for a while to write them: First Drawings is about the similarities between children’s drawings and ancient drawings, and Heidi’s Horse is a remarkable book that collects her daughter’s drawings from the age of 2 to 17. They’re so, so cool, and they both come explicitly from her experience as a mother and painter, spending time drawing with her daughter. After she wrote them, she went back to painting. Fein is now 99-years-old and, as far as I know, still working.

What’s the best book you’ve read in the last 6 months?

Oh man this is tough. Probably Lost in the Cosmos by Walker Percy or Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed by Paul Cronin. Both self-help books in their own weird ways. (Then again, what books aren’t self-help? You help yourself to them…)

What is your proudest achievement?

My family.

What two pieces of advice would you give a young aspiring writer?

Read every day and write every day. That’s about it.

crazy from the heatcrazy from the heat

If you were trying to impress a visitor, which book that you own would you leave on the coffee table?

Crazy From The Heat by David Lee Roth. If they laugh, they’re my kind of visitor.

Crazy From The Heat by David Lee RothCrazy From The Heat by David Lee Roth

If an alien landed in your garden; which three books would you gift them to showcase humanity in the best possible way?

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, the Moomin comics by Tove Jansson, and maybe Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.

Are there any books you haven’t mentioned that you feel would make your reading list?

There are hundreds! The authors who’ve made the biggest impact on me seem to all be “freshwater” people who used pictures and words: Charles Schulz, Kurt Vonnegut, Lynda Barry…

Which book sat on your shelf are you most excited about reading next and why?

I’m on the road right now, so I try to travel light, but I have a chunky book of Stevie Smith’s poems next to my armchair at home that I can’t wait to dip back into.

If you’d like to learn more about Austin Kleon, you can find him on his website and on Twitter.

Image credit: Clayton Cubitt

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