Austin Kleon
@austinkleon.bsky.social
I’m a writer who draws. Author of STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST and other bestsellers. www.austinkleon.com
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Austin Kleon
@austinkleon.bsky.social
· Oct 4
Fun living in a world where every new email — hell, every interaction online — is a Voight-Kampff test
Hello from Texas. Surprisingly civil in HEB this morning. Pizza night was threatened, temporarily, but we’ve sourced some mozzarella cheese and the show will go on!
January 23, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Hello from Texas. Surprisingly civil in HEB this morning. Pizza night was threatened, temporarily, but we’ve sourced some mozzarella cheese and the show will go on!
New winter mixtape austinkleon.com/2026/01/21/a...
About Time: January 2026 mixtape
Some real icy shit.
austinkleon.com
January 21, 2026 at 5:22 PM
New winter mixtape austinkleon.com/2026/01/21/a...
“Perhaps we really do live in a time which begets nothing but the mediocre.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
January 19, 2026 at 4:27 PM
“Perhaps we really do live in a time which begets nothing but the mediocre.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
This book is so good.
This book of comics by the painter Ad Reinhardt has been out of print for years and I was just about to bite the bullet and buy an overpriced copy on eBay…but it suddenly popped up again on the publisher’s website.
Still a first printing so maybe they found an old box of books in the warehouse?!
Still a first printing so maybe they found an old box of books in the warehouse?!
January 18, 2026 at 5:05 PM
This book is so good.
It doesn’t take much
10 things worth sharing this week
austinkleon.substack.com
January 16, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Austin Kleon
Tomorrow’s the first day of my grad seminar for @utaustin.bsky.social English, How to Read an Old Book, 1450–1830.
Just finished stitching up my syllabuses, which we’ll spend quite a bit of time with—as bibliographical objects—for the first half or so of the term.
Just finished stitching up my syllabuses, which we’ll spend quite a bit of time with—as bibliographical objects—for the first half or so of the term.
January 15, 2026 at 11:20 PM
Tomorrow’s the first day of my grad seminar for @utaustin.bsky.social English, How to Read an Old Book, 1450–1830.
Just finished stitching up my syllabuses, which we’ll spend quite a bit of time with—as bibliographical objects—for the first half or so of the term.
Just finished stitching up my syllabuses, which we’ll spend quite a bit of time with—as bibliographical objects—for the first half or so of the term.
Reposted by Austin Kleon
social media doesn’t want you to engage with a work on its own terms. it can’t use that. it needs you to socialize by complaining how the work isn’t what you wanted it to be, or thought it “should” be.
there's this specifically Internet-bred brain rot where people see some movie or read a book and if part of it doesn't align with whatever flavor-of-the-week idea they have, they get furious. It's endlessly fascinating.
January 15, 2026 at 2:32 PM
social media doesn’t want you to engage with a work on its own terms. it can’t use that. it needs you to socialize by complaining how the work isn’t what you wanted it to be, or thought it “should” be.
Reposted by Austin Kleon
I don't know why but the end credit goodnights on Saturday Night Live always fill me with overwhelming melancholy. Like they somehow manage to forever capture the energy at the end of a middle school dance before everyone drifts apart over the summer, possibly forever
January 12, 2026 at 3:42 AM
I don't know why but the end credit goodnights on Saturday Night Live always fill me with overwhelming melancholy. Like they somehow manage to forever capture the energy at the end of a middle school dance before everyone drifts apart over the summer, possibly forever
Heard you don’t like that thing I like
January 9, 2026 at 11:46 PM
Heard you don’t like that thing I like
We’ve watched a movie with our kids every Friday night for the past five years. Here’s what we’ve learned: austinkleon.substack.com/p/12-tips-fo...
12 tips for a great family movie night
A dozen things we've learned from our favorite family ritual
austinkleon.substack.com
January 6, 2026 at 1:16 PM
We’ve watched a movie with our kids every Friday night for the past five years. Here’s what we’ve learned: austinkleon.substack.com/p/12-tips-fo...
Reposted by Austin Kleon
My annual top 100 list is up: austinkleon.com/2026/01/02/1...
100 things that made my year (2025) - Austin Kleon
In any year there’s some good stuff.
austinkleon.com
January 2, 2026 at 8:02 PM
My annual top 100 list is up: austinkleon.com/2026/01/02/1...
Reposted by Austin Kleon
"You're too stupid to have a good time" Dalton was so real for that one
January 2, 2026 at 2:46 AM
"You're too stupid to have a good time" Dalton was so real for that one
Short books to hit your yearly reading goals!
December 29, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Short books to hit your yearly reading goals!
Reposted by Austin Kleon
"It was Christmas week: we took to no settled employment, but spent it in a sort of merry domestic dissipation."
--Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
--Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
December 29, 2025 at 1:09 AM
"It was Christmas week: we took to no settled employment, but spent it in a sort of merry domestic dissipation."
--Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
--Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
Will you edit your year-end roundup if something amazing happens in the next 3 days?
December 28, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Will you edit your year-end roundup if something amazing happens in the next 3 days?
Reposted by Austin Kleon
brb, someone’s at the door.
December 24, 2025 at 8:30 PM
brb, someone’s at the door.
Reposted by Austin Kleon
Gary Giddins, on Bing Crosby singing “White Christmas” to soldiers in Europe during the war.
![A passage of text
As he traveled in France, doing as many as five shows a day from the backs of flatbed trucks, he brought battle-hardened men to tears. The song they wanted to hear was "White Christmas": "If he opened the show with it to get it out of the way, he would just have to sing it twice." A Third Army medic wrote to a friend at home: " [W]hen he sang 'White Christmas' there wasn't a sound, not even breathing, and suddenly no one was looking at Crosby, but just at the ground and making a little wish.... And so back to our tents, but the men are smiling now."
Any time officers tried to horn in, Crosby shut them down: he was there for the enlisted men, and he made sure they got the best seats.
"Nothing in his life, he insisted, gave him as much
'pride and satisfaction' as making those 'guys happy for a few moments.'"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:lhxkgqcfz7fdtslhnhwkc3f3/bafkreicr567wyuiocvpga5kzl37whdn6b4yludcnwe3ahyu7dq5ut3ufcq@jpeg)
December 12, 2024 at 1:35 AM
Gary Giddins, on Bing Crosby singing “White Christmas” to soldiers in Europe during the war.
It’s Christmas break, I’ve finished my fourth volume of Sherlock Holmes, and now it’s time to start this one. Comfort and joy, dear Watson!
December 20, 2025 at 3:36 PM
It’s Christmas break, I’ve finished my fourth volume of Sherlock Holmes, and now it’s time to start this one. Comfort and joy, dear Watson!
Reposted by Austin Kleon
Benjamin Eakins and Samuel Murray with bicycles https://www.wikiart.org/en/thomas-eakins/benjamin-eakins-and-samuel-murray-with-bicycles-1899
December 19, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Benjamin Eakins and Samuel Murray with bicycles https://www.wikiart.org/en/thomas-eakins/benjamin-eakins-and-samuel-murray-with-bicycles-1899
Always loved Eddie Campbell on this and wish he’d completed his “The History of Humour” — these clips are from a zine I made
December 19, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Always loved Eddie Campbell on this and wish he’d completed his “The History of Humour” — these clips are from a zine I made