Austin Kleon

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NOVEMBER NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT POEMS CONTEST

The contest is now closed. See the winners!

Read the official contest rules.

For this contest, one winner and three runners-up will receive a free copy of the book, along with the chance to be published in the book!

To enter the contest, you must be 18 and a US resident (sorry to all you young’uns and overseas folk!) One entry per monthly contest.

The two columns of newspaper below are from November 1, 1908, 100 years ago. Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to turn them into a poem.

november newspaper blackout contest

[download high-quality GIF image] | [download PDF]

Directions

You can go about the creation of your poem in one of two ways:

WITH MARKER FUMES

  1. Download the PDF and print it out (you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader)
  2. Black out the words in the newspaper text into a poem
  3. Scan or take a digital picture of the poem. Be sure it’s readable.
  4. Save an image of the poem as a .jpg, .gif, or .png file less than 2MB in file size
  5. Send in the file along with the required information using the submission form

WITHOUT MARKER FUMES

  1. Download the high-resolution GIF and save it to your desktop (right-click save as on the link)
  2. Open the GIF with an image-editing program like Paint or Photoshop
  3. Black out the words in the newspaper text into a poem
  4. Save an image of the poem as a .jpg, .gif, or .png file less than 2MB in file size
  5. Send in the image file along with the required information using the submission form

TIPS

  • Combine both columns into one poem—don’t just do each column at a time! It doesn’t make for a good read. Skip between the two…this allows for more interesting possibilities. You can see the previous winners here and here and here.
  • Remember that Westerners read left-to-right, up-to-down. Poems read best if they follow that pattern.
  • You can get around the left/right/up/down problem by connecting words with whitespace. (See an example.)
  • What you are doing when making a blackout poem, in the words of Allen Ginsberg, is “shopping for images.” Nouns and verbs make the best images.
  • Regardless of where it’s located in the text, I always start a poem by looking for a word or image that resonates with me and move from there.
  • It’s a lot like a word search.
  • You don’t have to use the whole text. What to leave in / leave out / how long is the magic.
  • Poetry doesn’t have to be serious!
  • Try not to think to hard about it and let it flow! It might take you a bunch of tries. Don’t be intimidated! Anyone can do it!

One winner and three runners-up will be announced at the end of the month.

See the previous winners from August, September, and October.

Help us spread the word! Link to:
http://www.austinkleon.com/newspaper-blackout-poems

Good luck!

Submission form

Read the official contest rules.

Remember: only US residents 18 and older. One contest entry per month, please. Be sure to fill out all required fields and keep your image file limited to 2MB or smaller.

All entries must be submitted by November 21, 2008 (5:00 P.M. EST)

The contest is now closed. See the winners!

Problems with your submission? E-mail: blackoutpoems [at] gmail [dot] com

Become a fan of the poems on Facebook

OCTOBER NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT POEMS CONTEST

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. SEE THE WINNERS.

Enter the contest and you could win a free book and be published!

Read the official contest rules.

Get out your markers: this is the third of four monthly contests we’ll be running for the rest of the year. For each monthly contest, one winner and three runners-up will receive a free copy of the book, along with the chance to be published in the book!

To enter the contest, you must be 18 and a US resident (sorry to all you young’uns and overseas folk!) One entry per monthly contest.

The two columns of newspaper below are from October 1, 1908, 100 years ago. Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to turn them into a poem.

september newspaper blackout contest

[download high-quality GIF image] | [download PDF]

Directions

You can go about the creation of your poem in one of two ways:

WITH MARKER FUMES

  1. Download the PDF and print it out (you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader)
  2. Black out the words in the newspaper text into a poem
  3. Scan or take a digital picture of the poem. Be sure it’s readable.
  4. Save an image of the poem as a .jpg, .gif, or .png file less than 2MB in file size
  5. Send in the file along with the required information using the submission form

WITHOUT MARKER FUMES

  1. Download the high-resolution GIF and save it to your desktop (right-click save as on the link)
  2. Open the GIF with an image-editing program like Paint or Photoshop
  3. Black out the words in the newspaper text into a poem
  4. Save an image of the poem as a .jpg, .gif, or .png file less than 2MB in file size
  5. Send in the image file along with the required information using the submission form

TIPS

  • Combine both columns into one poem—don’t just do each column at a time! It doesn’t make for a good read. Skip between the two…this allows for more interesting possibilities. You can see the previous winners here and here.
  • Remember that Westerners read left-to-right, up-to-down. Poems read best if they follow that pattern.
  • You can get around the left/right/up/down problem by connecting words with whitespace. (See an example.)
  • What you are doing when making a blackout poem, in the words of Allen Ginsberg, is “shopping for images.” Nouns and verbs make the best images.
  • Regardless of where it’s located in the text, I always start a poem by looking for a word or image that resonates with me and move from there.
  • It’s a lot like a word search.
  • You don’t have to use the whole text. What to leave in / leave out / how long is the magic.
  • Poetry doesn’t have to be serious!
  • Try not to think to hard about it and let it flow! It might take you a bunch of tries. Don’t be intimidated! Anyone can do it!

One winner and three runners-up will be announced at the end of the month, along with our last contest in November.

You can see the previous winners here and here.

Help us spread the word! Link to:
http://www.austinkleon.com/newspaper-blackout-poems

Good luck!

Submission form

Read the official contest rules.

Remember: only US residents 18 and older. One contest entry per month, please. Be sure to fill out all required fields and keep your image file limited to 2MB or smaller.

All entries must be submitted by October 23, 2008 (5:00 P.M. EST)

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. SEE THE WINNERS.

Problems with your submission? E-mail: blackoutpoems [at] gmail [dot] com

Become a fan of the poems on Facebook

VIZTHINK AUSTIN 9-9-08: GALLERY WALK

Mindmap of Vizthink Austin, September 9, 2008

see it bigger (all apologies to those whose caricatures I botched and to Anne! I misheard her name as “Leann”)

Last night was the fourth VizThink Austin get-together, which was held at the Conjunctured house: we had a gallery walk, where our members presented their work and talked about their philosophy, practices, and challenges when using visual language. As always, when you get a group of creative people in one room and get them talking, the conversation is fantastic.

Jason Molin started and ended the evening with his songs. “I’m more of a word guy,” he said. But I say: words create images.

Frank Ragan showed his photography and talked about “what to do when you get stalled…how to find that jumping off point.” He quoted somebody (I forget who…he digs Richard Avedon and Irving Penn, so maybe one of those two) Michael Clark as saying, “When you get stuck, there’s two things you can do. 1) Take more photos 2) Take a vacation.” In other words, when you get stuck, work more, or walk away.

Anne Webb showed her work with Austin Voices for Education and Youth, some of which you can see here. She said her work is about “teaching students what it’s like to be a human being,” working with others and collaborating on art.

Greg Claxton showed an example of his work on neighborhood planning for the City of Austin. He talked about the “tension between what’s there and what could be there,” and struggle of giving folks enough detail to help them think “big picture” about what they want their neighborhood to look like, but not so much detail that they get bogged down on particulars. Abstract maps seem to be the tool that makes this happen. (This made me think about a recent article I read on web design where the author proposed thinking of web design as cartography vs. architecture.) The detail of the picture you show people depends on what kind of thinking you want them to do.

Sunni Brown showed her information design work, and talked about a recent experience with a client, the problems of reading the flow of a chart, and being so close to something you can’t tell whether it sucks or not. She said it’s good to be “dumb” about the subject you’re designing for. You want to look at it like an outsider, and ask questions that an amateur would ask to help your client step back and think “big picture.”

Then I blathered on about my work, and showed around some top-secret never-before-seen poems, including a few broadsheets. Somebody had the idea of doing a flipbook in the margins of the book to show a poem being made…I liked that idea!

Honoria Starbuck showed her graphic recording and 1-minute life-drawings. I don’t remember the context of this quote about graphic recording, but I liked it: “finding haikus in conversation.” She also gave me a ride home. Thanks, Honoria!

Eric Beverly showed his paintings and talked about painting on non-traditional surfaces. His dad’s a painter, and he learned how to paint by painting over the paintings his dad didn’t like! He had a great quote from Bob Dylan on songwriting: you get the first line, then it’s like riding a bull…either you stick with it or you don’t.

Last but definitely not least, my buddy Lindsay Wolff Logdson talked about her HR work for Frog Design and the struggle to convey linear, text-heavy information to visual thinkers. She showed us her stick figure drawings of HR processes, and how she visually explains taxes and health plans. It was really rad, and a great way to end the night.

You can see everyone and their work in my flickr set of the evening.

For the next meeting, we’re talking about doing a collaborative artwork, something like a visual exquisite corpse. You should come!

SEPTEMBER NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT POEMS CONTEST

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. SEE THE WINNERS.

Read the official contest rules.

Get out your markers: this is the second of four monthly contests we’ll be running for the rest of the year. For each monthly contest, one winner and three runners-up will receive a free copy of the book, along with the chance to be published in the book!

To enter the contest, you must be 18 and a US resident (sorry to all you young’uns and overseas folk!) One entry per monthly contest.

The two columns of newspaper below are from September 1, 1908, 100 years ago. Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to turn them into a poem.

september newspaper blackout contest

[download high-quality GIF image] | [download PDF]

Directions

You can go about the creation of your poem in one of two ways:

WITH MARKER FUMES

  1. Download the PDF and print it out (you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader)
  2. Black out the words in the newspaper text into a poem
  3. Scan or take a digital picture of the poem. Be sure it’s readable.
  4. Save an image of the poem as a .jpg, .gif, or .png file less than 2MB in file size
  5. Send in the file along with the required information using the submission form

WITHOUT MARKER FUMES

  1. Download the high-quality GIF and save it to your desktop (right-click save as on the link)
  2. Open the GIF with an image-editing program like Paint or Photoshop
  3. Black out the words in the newspaper text into a poem
  4. Save an image of the poem as a .jpg, .gif, or .png file less than 2MB in file size
  5. Send in the image file along with the required information using the submission form

TIPS

  • Try your best to combine both columns into one poem, skipping between the two…this allows for more interesting possibilities.
  • Remember that Westerners read left-to-right, up-to-down. Poems read best if they follow that pattern.
  • You can get around the left/right/up/down problem by connecting words with whitespace. (See an example.)
  • What you are doing when making a blackout poem, in the words of Allen Ginsberg, is “shopping for images.” Nouns and verbs make the best images.
  • Regardless of where it’s located in the text, I always start a poem by looking for a word or image that resonates with me and move from there.
  • It’s a lot like a word search.
  • You don’t have to use the whole text. What to leave in / leave out / how long is the magic.
  • Poetry doesn’t have to be serious!
  • Try not to think to hard about it and let it flow! It might take you a bunch of tries. Don’t be intimidated! Anyone can do it!

One winner and three runners-up will be announced at the end of the month, along with a new contest in October.

Help us spread the word! Link to:
http://www.austinkleon.com/newspaper-blackout-poems

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. SEE THE WINNERS.

Problems with your submission? E-mail: blackoutpoems [at] gmail [dot] com

Become a fan of the poems on Facebook

AUGUST NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT POEMS CONTEST

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. SEE THE WINNERS.

Enter the contest and you could win a free copy of the book and be published!

Read the official contest rules.

Get out your markers: this is the first of four monthly contests we’ll be running for the rest of the year. For each monthly contest, one winner and three runners-up will receive a free copy of the book, along with the chance to be published in the book!

To enter the contest, you must be 18 and a US resident (sorry to all you young’uns and overseas folk!) One entry per monthly contest.

The two columns of newspaper below are from August 1, 1908, 100 years ago. Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to turn them into a poem.

[download high-quality GIF image] | [download PDF]

Directions

You can go about the creation of your poem in one of two ways:

WITH MARKER FUMES

  1. Download the PDF and print it out (you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader)
  2. Black out the words in the newspaper text into a poem
  3. Scan or take a digital picture of the poem. Be sure it’s readable.
  4. Save an image of the poem as a .jpg, .gif, or .png file less than 2MB in file size
  5. Send in the file along with the required information using the submission form

WITHOUT MARKER FUMES

  1. Download the high-quality GIF and save it to your desktop (right-click save as on the link)
  2. Open the GIF with an image-editing program like Paint or Photoshop
  3. Black out the words in the newspaper text into a poem
  4. Save an image of the poem as a .jpg, .gif, or .png file less than 2MB in file size
  5. Send in the image file along with the required information using the submission form

TIPS

  • Remember that Westerners read left-to-right, up-to-down. Poems read best if they follow that pattern.
  • You can get around the left/right/up/down problem by connecting words with whitespace. (See an example.)
  • What you are doing when making a blackout poem, in the words of Allen Ginsberg, is “shopping for images.” Nouns and verbs make the best images.
  • Regardless of where it’s located in the text, I always start a poem by looking for a word or image that resonates with me and move from there.
  • It’s a lot like a word search.
  • You don’t have to use the whole text. What to leave in / leave out / how long is the magic.
  • Poetry doesn’t have to be serious!
  • Try not to think to hard about it and let it flow! It might take you a bunch of tries. Don’t be intimidated! Anyone can do it!

One winner and three runners-up will be announced at the end of the month, along with a new contest in September.

Help us spread the word! Link to:
http://www.austinkleon.com/newspaper-blackout-poems

Good luck!

Submission form

Read the official contest rules.

Remember: only US residents 18 and older. One contest entry per month, please. Be sure to fill out all required fields and keep your image file limited to 2MB or smaller.

All entries must be submitted by August 22, 2008 (5:00 PM EST)

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. SEE THE WINNERS.

Problems with your submission? E-mail: blackoutpoems [at] gmail [dot] com

Become a fan of the poems on Facebook

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