Skip to content

The Art of Not Explaining Everything with Jon Klassen

July 6, 2026 · 1 h 20 min

Show notes

Jon Klassen makes children’s books, but this isn’t really a conversation about children’s books.

Jon recently won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (one of the biggest honors in children’s literature), and we start there before getting into what makes his work so compelling in the first place.

We talk about why he leaves space for readers instead of explaining everything, how kids are smarter than we often give them credit for, the value of ambiguity, and why making work for yourself is usually the only way to make something honest.

And of course, we get into running, menswear, Studio Ghibli, Maurice Sendak, creative insecurity, and the weird pressure of trying to make good work over and over again.

Jon's acceptance speech

*

Sponsored by Bezel - the trusted marketplace for buying and selling your next luxury watch


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

All episodes of Blamo!

Settings

Display

Language

Decides which stations you see first on the home page.

History

Recently played stations and episodes and your latest searches are only stored in this browser.

Notifications

A short notice when a podcast you follow has a new episode. Turn off single podcasts with the bell on their page.

Account

Save favorites – in the app and on the website.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Open search
Space
Play or pause
← →
In the player: back 15 s, forward 30 s (episodes) · in a row: next tile
↑ ↓
In a row: target within the tile
Home / End
In a row: first or last tile
Esc
Close window or menu
?
This overview
Now playing

Go to station page

Play next

    Add episodes with “Play next” – they play after the current episode.