The folks at American Craft Magazine ran an excerpt of Steal Like An Artist in their June/July 2012 issue. It’s quite the remix — unbeknownst to me, they cobbled together the excerpt from several different chapters and even rewrote some transitions. (Which makes me wonder, “Is this still my writing?”) But, it sure does look nice…

Buy it now?

My artist’s statement:

When Broome Community College in upstate New York asked me to give a speech at their convocation, I sat down and wrote a list of 10 things I wish I’d heard when I was a college student first starting out. That list became the speech, the speech became a popular blog post and the blog post became my second book, Steal Like an Artist. A lot of people have told me they wanted to hang my handwritten list on their wall, so now, almost one year after I wrote it, we’re releasing the list as a print. I hope you hang it somewhere you want to get good work done.

Creativity and Curation: A Conversation About Finding and Sharing Inspiration Online

New York City! Come see me and my friends at McNally Jackson on Wednesday, May 30th at 7PM:

Join Austin Kleon (author of Steal Like an Artist) as he interviews three of his favorite NYC ladies around the topic of collecting and sharing inspiration online. The panel will feature Maud Newton, legendary litblogger; Maria Popova, creator of the stupendously popular blog Brain Pickings; and Maris Kreizman, creator of the hilarious Tumblr blog Slaughterhouse 90210.

I will, of course, be signing copies of Steal Like An Artist. Tell yer friends! Printable poster (PDF) here.

Follow me on Twitter for more #StealAcrossAmerica updates?

I’m on book tour promoting Steal Like An Artist. See all upcoming dates or follow me on Twitter?

Had a short, fun time in Minneapolis. Heard a bunch of great speakers, sold a bunch of books, and gave the closing talk at the See Change conference, ate some great grub, including an insane pulled pork sandwich at Cap’s Grille on the way to the airport, got to see my friends in town for Confab, drank a few too many whiskeys at Nye’s and sang at the piano bar, and saw some great art at the Walker Art Center out with my friend Chad Hagen.

I’m on book tour promoting Steal Like An Artist. See all upcoming dates or follow me on Twitter?

Milwaukee: Everybody in Milwaukee told me that “I didn’t expect Milwaukee to be so cool” is a standard response from visitors. I was no exception! I gave three talks in one day there—breakfast for Spreenker (check out my friend Mike Rohde’s sketchnotes above), lunch for Translator, and after-dinner for the awesome Boswell Books (dig these sketchnotes from Tim Reynolds). Toured the Art Museum (the museum store was sold out of Steal!), walked the lakefront up to Alterra Coffee, and ate at two great restaurants: Belgian at Benelux in the Third Ward district and the best french onion soup I’ve ever had at Bartolotta’s Lake Park Bistro. Unfortunately, I didn’t drink much beer. Will remedy that this summer when we pass through again on our way to Madison.

Lansing: I only got one night in Lansing, but the crowd at Schuler Books was so great, and I bonded with my cabbie to the airport over our shared love of Elmore Leonard!

You can see more from my tour diary or follow along as it happens on Twitter: @austinkleon

I’m on book tour promoting Steal Like An Artist. See all upcoming dates or follow me on Twitter?

Portland: Love, love, loved the gloomy weather. Felt like the kind of weather you could actually get some work done in. Ate a ton of Vietnamese food, a Portland Cream from Voodoo Donuts, an incredible soft-shell sandwich at Clyde Common, drank a bunch of Ninkasi IPA, had my first morning TV taping, gave not one but two talks at the Museum of Contemporary Craft, saw the great John Frame show at the Portland Museum of Art, added a signed copy of Steal to the great library at the Heathman Hotel, shopped Powell’s and the excellent Reading Frenzy, and hung out with a bunch of my friends.

Phoenix: It rained when I was in Phoenix and I had a ton of work to do, so my time there was pretty quiet, but I had some great coal-fire pizza at Pizzeria Bianco, drew Steal in chalk for KPNX, and had a wonderful audience at Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe.

San Francisco: I spent four nights in SF and it was my first time in the city, so it probably deserves its own post. Gave a talk at Google, drove around the city with my agent and splendid host, Mr. Ted Weinstein, did the farmer’s market at the Ferry building, walked the Filbert Steps to Coit Tower, window shopped on Valencia Street, drew and gave a talk at Flax Art, ate super burritos and hung out with my friends Lisa, Wendy, Mike, Erika, and Andre, hit the ballpark with the Logsdons, hit City Lights Books, ate a few slices at Golden Boy, had dinner with one of my heroes, the collage artist Winston Smith (that’s a whole story in itself), strolled Chinatown, drank Blue Bottle coffee, drove to Twin Peaks and Golden Gate park, and watched the Pacific.

My Pixar visit could fill up its own post, too. @DrWave gave Ted and me a tour of the campus and the amazing exhibit of Brave pre-production art, then I gave my talk, signed and sold out of books, met another one of my heroes, Steve Purcell, and spent a small fortune in the gift shop.

You can see more from my tour diary or follow along as it happens on Twitter: @austinkleon

Can’t see the video? Watch it here?

When I was in San Francisco, the folks at Google recorded a version of my Steal talk for their Authors at Google series.

See more of my speaking gigs?

When I was in Kansas City, the folks at TEDxKC had me give a 10-minute version of my Steal talk at the Nelson Atkins Museum after the TEDxChange simulcast. Watch below.

Can’t see the video? Watch it here?

Last week I had the new-to-me-and-slightly-surreal experience of being on three local TV shows — in Phoenix, they did something out of the ordinary: they asked me to draw! The producer found a room with a wall-sized chalkboard, and I talked about Steal Like An Artist while drawing some of the concepts in the book in chalk, and the team later edited the clip and sped up the tape to show me drawing. The effect is really cool:

Can’t see the video? Watch it here?

Can’t see the video? Watch it here?

For “normal” interviews, check out KATU in Portland and KPIX’s Bay Sunday in San Francisco:

Can’t see the video? Watch it here?

I’m on book tour promoting Steal Like An Artist. See all upcoming dates?

Lexington, KY: grabbed some great Cajun on paper plates at Bourbon n’ Toulouse, stopped by Morris Book Shop and signed some books, then gave a talk at the University of Kentucky.

Chapel Hill, NC: upon my arrival I demanded a pulled pork sandwich, admired the beautiful trees, visited the NC Museum of Art, met my internet friend @ayse in person, and had a really great audience at the marvelous Flyleaf Books.

Atlanta, GA: had breakfast at the OK Cafe, toured the High Museum’s Picasso to Warhol exhibit, hung out with the Mailchimp gang at their offices, had an amazing burger at Bocado, talked to a class of students at SCAD’s Ivy Hall writing center, drank an old fashioned at Leon’s in Decatur, met my online brother from another mother @mlarson, then talked to a full room at the Decatur Library and sold completely out of books!

Savannah, GA: spent most of the day just walking around looking at the trees (the great thing about touring in spring) and the architecture and the cemeteries, had a civilized lunch at the Pink House, bought a marker in the awesome Primary art store, broke down and wept in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist (tired/homesick/overcome), walked to the SCAD art museum, checked out the Candy Chang “Before I Die” installation, hung out with a group of grad students who showed up to the Ex Libris bookstore signing, checked out a Louis Menand lecture on Andy Warhol, then got dinner at Local with the writer Rob Walker and his wife Ellen Susan, then walked home through Forsyth Park at night. Beautiful city.

And here’s a couple bonus photos from when I got home to Texas:

I feel lucky that I’m three weeks deep into tour and I’m still healthy and (somewhat) sane. This week I’m taking a much-needed break, but then it’s off to Portland, Tempe, and San Francsico. See the dates?

You can see more from my tour diary or follow along as it happens on Twitter: @austinkleon