What do writers read before bed? In separate public accounts, Austin Kleon described fiction on an e-reader, Roxane Gay described books and saved long articles, and Patti Smith discussed revisiting The Glass Bead Game. These dated accounts show different reading choices, not a shared sleep routine or evidence that one choice works better.
| Person | Reported reading | Source and date | Limit | Full profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin Kleon | Fiction on an e-reader every night before bed | A Reading Life questionnaire, June 4, 2026 | No device brand or reading duration given | Austin Kleon |
| Roxane Gay | Books, or a long article saved earlier in the day | W interview, January 14, 2022 | Work and pleasure reading overlap | Roxane Gay |
| Patti Smith | Random pages of The Glass Bead Game, evening and morning | Commonweal conversation, March 23, 2026 | A past experiment; its date is not given | Patti Smith |
Austin Kleon: fiction on an e-reader, not a screen-free evening
In his June 4, 2026 answers to A Reading Life, Kleon split his reading by time of day. He said he liked to read nonfiction in print, with a pencil, in the morning or afternoon, and fiction every night on his e-reader before bed. In his words, nonfiction woke him up and fiction put him into a dream state.
The same questionnaire gives one specific evening choice. For most of the preceding winter, he said, he read a Sherlock Holmes story every night, alongside a dozen pages of Montaigne each morning. He also described leaving his phone in the kitchen when he went to bed.
The account involves a screen: the e-reader. Calling it a screen-free evening would misdescribe it. Kleon did not name the device or give a fixed reading time. The questionnaire ran the week his new book came out and includes book-shopping links.
Roxane Gay: a book or article that needs attention
Asked by W in January 2022 what she did last before bed, Gay described reading a range of things at night. Those included books, or a long magazine article she had found online earlier in the day but had not had time to focus on.
Some of that reading was for her book club, including books she was considering for it. She said she made time to read for fun as well as for research. The line between the two was not sharp: she said it was rare for her reading to feel like work rather than pleasure.
Her answer describes what she read, not how it affected her sleep. The interview introduced her Joel Gay Fellowship, run through Substack, and discussed her newsletter.
Patti Smith: returning to the same book
Smith’s account comes through a conversation with Antonio Spadaro, published by Commonweal on March 23, 2026. The book was Hermann Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game, which she had owned since her teens. In her own words, earlier attempts stalled because she would fall asleep or it felt too long.
The bedside detail is Spadaro’s narration. He writes that once she had finally finished the book, she placed it next to her bed and read a few randomly chosen pages each evening before sleeping, and again each morning, for a month. Smith’s quoted reflection is about the book itself: its chronology began to feel three-dimensional, and after a couple of months the experience became, in her word, transformative.
This was a historical reading experiment. The article does not say when it took place or that she still reads this way. The conversation also discusses her books and her preface to one of Spadaro’s, and Commonweal offers subscriptions.
What the dates do not tell us
The three accounts come from different years and different kinds of source: a questionnaire, a magazine Q&A and a journalist’s conversation. They do not establish a continuous routine, a shared bedtime or current use. Fiction, saved articles and a reread novel are each one person’s reported choice, not a reading prescription for sleep.
These are personal accounts, not recommendations or personalized medical advice. Each full profile above carries its own sources and commercial context. Read more about SleepStacks. Sources checked November 8, 2026.
A Reading Life / Petya K. Grady, 2026-06-04