John Green

John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author, YouTube content creator, podcaster, and philanthropist. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including ''The Fault in Our Stars'' (2012), which is one of the best-selling books of all time. Green's rapid rise to fame and idiosyncratic voice are credited with creating a major shift in the young adult fiction market. Aside from being a novelist, Green is well known for his work in online video, most notably his YouTube ventures with his brother Hank Green.

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Green was raised in Orlando, Florida, before attending boarding school outside of Birmingham, Alabama, graduating in 1995. He attended Kenyon College, graduating with a double major in English and religious studies in 2000. Green then spent six months as a student chaplain at a children's hospital. He was deeply affected by the difficult experience, which later partially inspired ''The Fault in Our Stars''. Green reconsidered his path and began working at ''Booklist'' in Chicago while writing his first novel. His debut novel ''Looking for Alaska'' (2005) was awarded the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award. While living in New York City, Green published his second novel, ''An Abundance of Katherines'' (2006), which became a Printz Honor book. Starting on January 1, 2007, John and his brother Hank launched the Vlogbrothers YouTube channel, a series of vlogs submitted to one another on alternating weekdays; the videos spawned an active online-based community called Nerdfighteria and an annual telethon-style fundraiser called Project for Awesome, both of which have persisted and grown over time.

John moved back to Indianapolis in 2007, and published three novels over the next three years: '' Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances'' (2008, with Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle), his third solo novel, ''Paper Towns'' (2008), and ''Will Grayson, Will Grayson'' (2010, with David Levithan). From 2010 to 2013, John and Hank launched several online video projects: VidCon, an annual conference for the online video community; '' Crash Course'' (2011–present), a wide-ranging educational channel; and Subbable, a crowdfunding platform which was purchased by Patreon in 2015. Green's 2012 novel, ''The Fault in Our Stars'', proved to be a massive success. The book created a passionate fan base of readers and debuted at number one on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for children's chapter books, remaining in the top ten for over two-and-a-half years. The 2014 film adaptation was also a commercial and critical success, leading to several other film and television adaptations of his work. That same year, Green was included in ''Time'' magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2015, the weekly comedy podcast '' Dear Hank & John'' (2015–present) debuted, co-hosted by the Green brothers.

Green's subsequent projects, his novel '' Turtles All the Way Down'' (2017) and ''The Anthropocene Reviewed'' (2018–2021), dealt more directly with his own struggles with anxiety and obsessive–compulsive disorder. ''The Anthropocene Reviewed'' began as a podcast in January 2018, with Green reviewing different facets of the Anthropocene on a five-star scale. Green later adapted the essays into his first nonfiction book, '' The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet'' (2021). The essays were ordered chronologically through his life to give the approximate structure of a memoir. John has also collaborated with his wife, art curator Sarah Urist Green, on the video series ''The Art Assignment'' (2017–2020) and '' Ours Poetica'' (2019–present), which focus on visual art and poetry respectively. Since the mid-2010s, John Green has been a prominent supporter, fundraiser, and later trustee for Partners In Health and their goal of reducing maternal mortality in Sierra Leone.

Early life and education

John Michael Green was born on August 24, 1977, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Mike and Sydney Green. Within two months after he was born, his family moved to Michigan, then later Birmingham, Alabama, and finally to Orlando, Florida. There he attended Glenridge Middle School and Lake Highland Preparatory School. Green's father worked as the state director of The Nature Conservancy, and his mother, after being a stay-at-home mother, worked for a nonprofit called the Healthy Community Initiative. When he was 15, he started attending Indian Springs School outside of Birmingham, Alabama, graduating in 1995. While attending the preparatory school, Green became good friends with Daniel Alarcón, who would go on to become an author as well. Green's future wife Sarah Urist also attended Indian Springs at the same time as Green, though they did not become friends until they became reacquainted in the early 2000s.

Green has characterized his upbringing by saying that, "although he had a happy childhood, he was not always a happy child." Green has struggled with severe anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder his whole life. He has also spoken about being bullied during high school and how it had made life as a teenager miserable for him.

Green enrolled at Kenyon College in 1995 and graduated with a double major in English and religious studies in 2000. While attending the school, he befriended and was in a comedy troupe with Ransom Riggs. After graduation, Green spent about half a year working as a student chaplain at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, while enrolled at the University of Chicago Divinity School, although he never actually attended the school. He intended to become an Episcopal priest, but the traumatic experiences of working in a hospital with children suffering from life-threatening illnesses and injuries made him reconsider his path. Parts of his experience inspired him to become an author, and later to write ''The Fault in Our Stars''. After his time as a chaplain, Green moved to Chicago where he briefly continued performing with his college comedy troupe.

Career

Early career and novels (2001–2006)

''Booklist'' magazine and ''Looking for Alaska''

In 2001, Green was hired as an editorial assistant at the book review journal ''Booklist'', later becoming a production editor. While there, he reviewed hundreds of books, particularly literary fiction and books about Islam or conjoined twins. He also wrote radio essays for NPR's ''All Things Considered'' and Chicago's public radio station WBEZ. He wrote essays for WBEZ after beginning an email correspondence with Amy Krouse Rosenthal, who became a close friend and mentor.

Green met author Ilene Cooper while working at ''Booklist'', whom he credited with breaking down the perceived barriers to attempt to write a novel, saying, "I saw that real people like Ilene wrote books; they weren't written in ivory towers." Cooper invited Green to lunch to discuss his future. She set a deadline for Green to present her with a draft of his first book, which Green failed to present to her twice over. Soon after September 11, 2001, Green was going through a break-up and suffered from a mental health crisis so severe he could not eat, and instead drank only two-liter bottles of Sprite. He lived with his parents for a brief time while seeing a psychiatrist and going on medication. When he returned to Chicago, he began writing ''Looking for Alaska''.

Green presented the first draft to Cooper, who served as a mentor and agent through the following two versions. Cooper sent the third draft to Dutton Children's Books, who awarded Green with a publishing contract and a small four-figure book deal. ''Looking for Alaska'' was assigned to editor Julie Strauss-Gabel, which began their collaboration that has persisted through all of Green's books. In a 2015 interview with ''The New York Times'', Green reflected, "In a publishing world that maybe doesn't have as many long-term relationships as it used to, she invested a lot of time in me before I ever earned a profit. I've never written a book without Julie. I wouldn't know how to do it."

''Looking for Alaska'' was published in March 2005. The novel is a coming-of-age school story and teen romance about a boarding school student who gets bullied, partially inspired by Green's experiences at Indian Springs, Alabama, fictionalized as Culver Creek Preparatory High School. The novel was well-received critically, but saw only modest sales at first. The novel was awarded the annual Michael L. Printz Award by the American Library Association (ALA), recognizing the year's "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit." Receiving the award caused book sales to rapidly rise, with Green describing his reaction upon hearing he had won the award as, "probably the purest moment of joy I've experienced. Even when my children were born it wasn't as raw and surprising." It also appeared on the ALA's annual "Top 10 Best Books for Young Adults" and appeared on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list seven years later during a surge in Green's popularity after the release of ''The Fault in Our Stars''. Green left his job at ''Booklist'' after receiving the Printz Award.

''An Abundance of Katherines''

Green moved to the Upper West Side in New York City in 2005 while his then-fiancée Sarah Urist Green attended graduate school at Columbia University. He worked at ''Mental Floss'' magazine while he continued his second novel, having already finished a first draft while living in Chicago. He co-authored several ''Mental Floss'' gift books while there, including ''Cocktail Party Cheat Sheets'', ''What's the Difference?'' and ''Scatterbrained''. He also critiqued books for ''The New York Times Book Review''.

His second novel, ''An Abundance of Katherines'', was released in September 2006. Set in Chicago, the novel is about an extremely intelligent but depressed 17-year-old boy who is constantly dating (and being dumped by) girls named Katherine. Reviewers noted that the books tone was significantly more comedic and light than ''Looking for Alaska''. It was runner-up for the Printz Award, known as a Printz Honor book, and a finalist for the ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize. Green began writing his third solo novel while still living in New York.

Online and literary collaborations (2007-2011)

''Paper Towns'' and collaborative works

Green moved back to Indianapolis in June 2007 when Sarah began a position as a curator of contemporary art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. In an interview in October 2007, Green mentioned that his next solo novel's working title was ''Paper Towns''.

Green's next novel was released on October 2, 2008, and was a collaboration with fellow young adult authors Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle titled ''Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances''. The book consists of three interconnected short stories, including Green's "A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle," with each set in the same small town on Christmas Eve during a massive snowstorm. In November 2009, the book reached number ten on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for paperback children's books.

Green's third solo novel, ''Paper Towns'', was released two weeks after ''Let It Snow''. Set in the suburbs of Orlando, Florida, the book is about the coming-of-age of the protagonist, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen and his search for Margo Roth Spiegelman, his neighbor and childhood sweetheart. The story has often been described as a deconstruction of the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" trope, including by Green himself. It debuted at number five on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for children's books. ''Paper Towns'' was awarded the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel and the 2010 Corine Literature Prize.

After this, Green and his friend, young-adult writer David Levithan, collaborated on the novel ''Will Grayson, Will Grayson'', which was published by Dutton in June 2010. Set in the suburbs of Chicago, the book's narrative is divided evenly between two boys named Will Grayson; Green wrote all the odd chapters on the Will Grayson who is straight, and Levithan write all the even chapters on the Will Grayson who is gay. The novel debuted on ''The New York Times'' children's best-seller list after its release and remained there for three weeks. It was the first LGBT-themed young adult novel to make it to the list. It was a runner-up (Honor Book) for two of the annual ALA awards, the Stonewall Book Award for excellence in LGBT children's and young adult literature, and the Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production.

Online video beginnings

In 2007, John and his brother Hank began a video blog project called ''Brotherhood 2.0'' which ran from January 1 to December 31 of that year and was published to their YouTube channel "Vlogbrothers". The two agreed that they would forgo all text-based communication for the project's duration and instead maintain their relationship by exchanging these vlogs. Each submitted one to the other on alternating weekdays. During that year, the brothers gained a large following during the early years of YouTube, especially after Hank's video "Accio Deathly Hallows" was featured on the front page of YouTube. In what would have been the project's final video, the brothers revealed that they would extend their video correspondence indefinitely.. ''VlogBrothers''. December 31, 2007. , they have continued exchanging their vlogs and the channel has over 3.5 million subscribers and 900 million views.

Since the project's inception, the duo has gained a wide-reaching international fanbase whose members identify collectively as " Nerdfighters". One prominent early Nerdfighter was Esther Earl. Esther Earl was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2006 when she was 12, and developed a bond with the Green brothers and the Nerdfighter community. She would be involved with Nerdfighteria and YouTube until her death on August 25, 2010, at the age of 16. Green and the Nerdfighteria community continue to celebrate "Esther Day" each year on August 3, and support the non-profit foundation This Star Won't Go Out, founded by Esther's parents Wayne and Lori Earl. Earl's biography, co-authored by her parents, was posthumously published under the title ''This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl''. Green wrote the introduction. Earl would later serve as an inspiration for the main character Hazel in ''The Fault in Our Stars''.

The group, in collaboration with the two brothers, promote and participate in several other humanitarian efforts and community events, including loaning more than $4 million through Kiva.org, as well as the Project for Awesome (P4A). The Project for Awesome, an annual telethon-style fundraiser held at first in December and later moved back to February, began in 2007. The event encourages participants to create videos promoting charities or non-profit organizations of their choosing. These videos lead up to a 48-hour livestream in which the charities are voted on by the community while supporters pledge money and receive donated perks like signed photographs, books, special events, and art in return. The livestream is hosted by the Greens and other YouTube personalities, including Destin Sandlin and Craig Benzine. The event has continued annually, gaining support and higher donations over time. In 2012, they raised over $480,000. In 2017, the event raised over $2 million, and in the project's fifteenth edition in 2022, they raised $3.2 million. The P4A is a project of the Foundation to Decrease World Suck, a 501(c)3 charitable organization co-founded by John and Hank and based in Missoula, Montana.

Hank Green and Alan Lastufka co-founded DFTBA Records (an initialism for "Don't Forget to Be Awesome") in 2008, with John Green later becoming a co-owner. Originally a record label, its main focus was music generated by prominent YouTube stars. The company now focuses on selling merchandise.

In 2010, the brothers launched VidCon as a conference for the online video community. The Greens created the conference in response to the growing YouTube community. Hank stated, "We wanted to get as much of the online video community together, in one place, in the real world for a weekend. It's a celebration of the community, with performances, concerts, and parties, but it's also a discussion of the explosion in community-based online video." The event drew many popular YouTubers, as well as their fans, and provided room for the community to interact. The event also contained an industry conference for people and businesses working in the online video field. The convention was a success, leading to it becoming an annual event.

Breakout success (2012–2016)

''The Fault in Our Stars'' and adaptations

Green had announced in August 2009 he was writing a new book titled ''The Sequel''. The work was later scrapped, with parts integrated into his next book, ''The Fault in Our Stars'', released on January 10, 2012. Green's fourth solo novel, the story is about Hazel, a 16-year-old girl living in Indianapolis, Indiana who has thyroid cancer. She is forced by her parents to attend a support group where she meets and falls in love with 17-year-old Augustus Waters, an ex-basketball player, amputee, and survivor of osteosarcoma. Green was inspired by his friendship with Esther Earl, as well as has time working as a student chaplain in a children's hospital. In an interview with ''The Atlantic'' in 2013, he stated, "The kids I met hile working as a student chaplainwere funny and bright and angry and dark and just as human as anybody else. And I really wanted to try to capture that. I felt that the stories that I was reading sort of oversimplified and sometimes even dehumanized them. ..I wanted to argue for their humanity, their complete humanity." He crafted the novel in collaboration with his long-time editor Julie Strauss-Gabel.Ashley Ross, July 23, 2014, Time magazine
New If I Stay Trailer Ups the Romance
Retrieved April 14, 2015, "...focuses on the idea of teenage love being ever-inconvenient...Dutton Publisher Julie Strauss-Gabel edited both books...." Green signed all 150,000 copies of the first printing.

''The Fault in Our Stars'' was massively successful, creating a passionate fan base of readers. Six months before the release of the book, before it had even been finished, online pre-orders led to the book being a number one seller on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. After release, the book debuted at number one on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for children's chapter books. It remained at the top of the list for seven consecutive weeks and in the top ten for over two-and-a-half years. During this period, all of his prior novels also appeared on the list due to Green's surge in popularity.

Green himself also saw a significant increase in his fame, with the ''Indianapolis Business Journal'' noting that he had much more "visibility and presence in his fans' lives" than other contemporaneous authors with equal or greater book sales. Upon the books release, Green began a 17-city book tour, visiting largely-sold-out venues across the country. On the year anniversary of its release, John and his brother Hank performed an entirely sold-out show at Carnegie Hall's Isaac Stern Auditorium in New York City, which also featured appearances from Neil Gaiman and The Mountain Goats. Green appeared on ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' in March 2013. Green stated his anxiety leading up to the television interview prevented him from getting work done for weeks before.

In late 2013, Green stated that he was writing a new book with the working title ''The Racket''. He sold 5,000 words of a rough draft on IndieGoGo for $10 each in order to raise money as part of the Project for Awesome charity event. That same year, Green hired long-time Nerdfighter Rosianna Halse Rojas as his executive assistant.

A film adaptation of ''The Fault in Our Stars'' was green-lit within three weeks of the books release. Green had initially been hesitant to sell the movie rights for the book, saying, "I'd had some unhappy experiences before, and I didn't want a movie I didn't like being made from a book that's so important to me. This book frankly is more important to me than my other books." To that end, Green was involved in the movie's pre-production, and was on set for most of the film's shooting. In March 2014, ''The Indianapolis Star'' described Green as having, "an underground career that's rolling toward the mainstream". ''The Hollywood Reporter'' stated in May 2014 that even before the movie's release, its expected success was causing a shift in the types of films being made for teenagers, with Pouya Shahbazian, the producer of the dystopian science fiction film '' Divergent'' stating, "I've already had calls from studio execs who want to be on the list for small, intimate stories that previously would have been impossible to sell to their senior execs. Who would have believed a small-budget, YA teenage cancer love story would have rival studio execs calling it a potential event movie?" Additionally, the magazine reported that the film studio behind the move, Fox 2000, would consider anything over $125million in box office earnings a huge success.

On June 6, 2014, ''The Fault in Our Stars'' film was released, the first adaptation of one of Green's novels. The film was massively successful, opening number one at the box office during its opening weekend and grossing $307million worldwide against a budget of $12million. Green filmed a cameo role for the movie that was not included in the final cut of the film. The profound success of the book and the movie further hurled Green into mainstream culture. Green appeared on ''The Colbert Report'' to promote the movie's release in June 2014. Green was included in ''Time'' magazine's 2014 ''Time'' 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The trade paperback version of ''The Fault in Our Stars'' was the top selling novel of the year on ''Publishers Weekly's'' annual list, with the movie tie-in and hardcover versions also appearing on the list at numbers eight and nine respectively.

Just over a year after the first film's release, an adaptation of ''Paper Towns'' was released, starring Cara Delevingne and Nat Wolff. Green served as an executive producer for the movie and entered into a first-look production deal with the studio behind the film, Fox 2000, alongside his now producing partner Rojas. In 2016, Green announced that Fox 2000 would be making a movie about the formation of AFC Wimbledon, a soccer team that he supports. He would serve as producer along with Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen under their production banner Temple Hill Productions, which produced ''The Fault in Our Stars'' and ''Paper Towns'' films. , the movie has not been released.

Focus on educational content

The ''Crash Course'' YouTube channel was conceived by the Green brothers after YouTube approached them with an opportunity to launch one of the initial YouTube-funded channels as part of the platform's "YouTube Original Channel Initiative". The channel was teased in December 2011, and then launched on January 26, 2012, with the first episode of its ''World History'' series, hosted by John Green. The channel has since grown to 44 series covering topics including history, literature, and science. All of the content is available for free and many follow the curricula for the Advanced Placement program. John has hosted several of the series, including the first on world history, which he co-wrote with his high school history teacher, Raoul Meyer.

After two years of producing ''Crash Course'' and Hank's science-related channel ''SciShow'' through the grants provided by YouTube, the Green brothers ventured to find a more sustainable way to fund the projects. In 2013, they launched Subbable, a subscription-based crowdfunding platform that would enable donators to pledge a monthly sum to creators and receive perks in exchange. Among the platform's initial creators and channels were the Green brothers' ''Crash Course'' and ''SciShow'', and YouTubers CGP Grey, MinutePhysics and Wheezy Waiter.

Starting in 2012 and 2013, John and Hank began celebrating an event called "Pizzamas" in which they sold merchandise of "Pizza John": a white outlined image of John sporting a thick mustache, originating from a 2009 Vlogbrothers video that then became a popular meme in the Nerdfighteria community. The event evolved in 2014, with John and Hank uploading videos to Vlogbrothers every weekday for two weeks, as they had during the first year of the YouTube channel. The merchandise also evolved, including fan art printed on blankets, stickers, and tote bags, and pizza-scented air fresheners, with all the proceeds being donated to charity.

In March 2015, Patreon, another subscription-based crowdfunding platform, acquired Subbable and added Subbable's creators into its fold, with the bulk of the acquisition money going to match up to $100,000 in pledges to ease the transition. Although talks of the two companies joining forces had been discussed since their launch, they became more serious after Amazon announced a change in its payment services, which would lead to Subbable creators losing subscribers. As part of the deal, the Green brothers became advisors at Patreon.

Green was one of the hosts of the YouTube channel for the magazine ''Mental Floss'' from 2013 to 2018. He had previously been a contributing writer for the magazine for a period in the mid-2000s and had co-edited the book ''Mental Floss: Scatterbrained'', to which his brother Hank had also contributed. Alongside other presenters, like Craig Benzine and Elliott Morgan, John Green presented "The List Show" in which he listed off interesting facts centered on one particular subject. These episodes were directed by Mark Olsen and produced by John and Hank Green and Stan Muller. A new format, titled ''Scatterbrained'', was introduced on the channel in 2018; Green was joined by multiple hosts on a single episode each week, which tackled one topic from multiple angles. In 2019, ''Mental Floss'' brought its YouTube production in-house and ceased using Green as a host.

On February 20, 2014, Sarah Urist Green launched ''The Art Assignment'', a PBS and Complexly video series in which artists encourage viewers to imitate their creative exercises. John served as an executive producer for the series. In September 2019, Sarah Urist Green, in collaboration with John and the Poetry Foundation, launched the YouTube channel ''Ours Poetica''. The channel features videos of poets, celebrities, and others reading poetry. Poet Paige Lewis acted as the curator of the channel for the first season and Kaveh Akbar also work on the channel. Featured readers have included Shailene Woodley, Ashley C. Ford, Emily Graslie, and Samin Nosrat, among others.

In June 2015, John Green and his brother Hank started a weekly podcast titled ''Dear Hank & John''. Taking a mainly humorous tone, each podcast consists of the brothers reading a series of questions submitted by listeners and offering their "dubious" advice. The podcast closes with a news segment with two standard topics: Mars, presented by Hank, and AFC Wimbledon, presented by John.

EcoGeek LLC, a company founded by Hank Green to support his blog on environmental and science issues in the early 2000s, was renamed to Complexly in 2016. Complexly became the umbrella video and audio production company which produces and manages most of the Green brother's YouTube shows, as well as a number of other shows, podcasts, and projects. John serves as the co-founder and strategic advisor for the company.

Appearances

Green gave commencement speeches at Butler University in 2013 and at his alma mater Kenyon College in May 2016. Both universities conferred Honorary Doctorates of Letters on him.

In January 2016, Green was named to the Forum of Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum (WEF). He attended the annual meeting of the WEF in Davos, Switzerland that year. In February 2016, Green visited Jordan to meet with Syrian refugees with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Green has often acted as an advocate for refugees, stating that "for those of you who share my faith, Jesus is awfully unambiguous about the poor, shelterless, and imprisoned".

Established author and internet personality (2017–present)

''Turtles All the Way Down''

In November 2014, amidst the intense success of ''The Fault in Our Stars'', Green wrote on his Tumblr page that he was not working on his previously announced next project, ''The Racket'', anymore, but was working on something else with a different title. In September 2015, Green announced that he would be taking a break from social media to focus on writing his next book. Around this time, Green experienced a period of severe anxiety, partly due to the perceived burden to follow up the massive success of ''The Fault in Our Stars''. He worried he might never write another book. He stopped taking his prescribed medications hoping to reinvigorate his creativity and his mental health suffered, with him later describing the experience saying, "I can't think straight — I can only think in swirls and scribbles." After he recovered in late 2015, he began writing ''Turtles All the Way Down''.

In August 2016, Green stated that over the next ten months he would be limiting his public appearances in order to finish a draft of the new book. But on September 20, Green took to his YouTube channel to say that he may never publish another book, citing his current writing experience as, "this intense pressure, like people were watching over my shoulder while I was writing." Despite the difficulties, he finished and submitted the first draft to his editor Julie Strauss-Gabel, before editing the book together for another year.

On June 22, 2017, it was announced that Green's fifth solo novel would be titled ''Turtles All the Way Down''. It was released on October 10, 2017, and debuted at number one on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list. The story centers on 16-year-old Aza Holmes, an Indianapolis high school student with obsessive–compulsive disorder and anxiety, and her search for a fugitive billionaire as she begins a relationship with that billionaire's son. Speaking about the novel, Green said, "This is my first attempt to write directly about the kind of mental illness that has affected my life since childhood, so while the story is fictional, it is also quite personal." Like his previous books, Green signed the first 200,000 copies of the book, as part of the initial run of 1.5 million copies.

Upon the release of his book, he and his brother Hank went on a book tour. In May 2018, Green was interviewed by then-quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts Andrew Luck after ''Turtles All the Way Down'' was named a selection for the Andrew Luck Book Club. They discussed the book and their relationships with anxiety and stress for the event that promoted the PBS series ''The Great American Read''.

''The Anthropocene Reviewed''

In January 2018, Green launched ''The Anthropocene Reviewed'', a solo podcast where he reviews different facets of the Anthropocene, the epoch that includes significant human impact on the environment, on a five-star scale. This can include completely artificial products like Diet Dr. Pepper, natural species that have had their fates altered by human influence like the Canada goose, or phenomena that only influence humanity such as Halley's Comet. Episodes typically contained Green reviewing two topics, accompanied by stories on how they have impacted his life. At the end of 2018, Complexly partnered with WNYC Studios to bring all of their podcasts, including ''The Anthropocene Reviewed'', to the distributor.

Green adapted the essays into a book, '' The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet'', which was published by Dutton Penguin on May 18, 2021. The book was Green's first nonfiction book and sixth solo publication. The book received positive reviews and debuted at number one on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list.
The book featured revised versions of many of the essays from the podcast, as well as new original essays, ordered chronologically through Green's life to give the book the approximate structure of a memoir. Green wrote about living through the COVID-19 pandemic in many of the essays. As he had done with many of his previous books, Green signed all 250,000 tip-in sheets of the first printing for the United States and Canada. He wrote a review of the experience on the final signed page. This review was later revised and expanded on for an episode of the podcast released on the same day as the book. Green subsequently ended the podcast in August 2021 after 36 episodes.

In May 2021, Green hosted a virtual book tour for ''The Anthropocene Reviewed'', with guests Clint Smith, Latif Nasser, Sarah Urist Green, Hank Green, and Ashley C. Ford making appearances at the various shows.

In April 2022, ''The Anthropocene Reviewed'' was chosen to be the 2022 common read at the University of Mississippi. Green gave a keynote address at the university's annual fall convocation.

Further adaptations

Green had sold the film the rights for ''Looking for Alaska'' in 2005 to Paramount, which hired Josh Schwartz as writer and director. However, after five years with no progress on the project, Green told fans that, while he "desperately loved" the screenplay, there seemed to be little interest at Paramount. In 2012, the book reached ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for children's paperbacks. Finally, in May 2018, it was announced that ''Looking for Alaska'' would be made into a Hulu series with Schwartz and others on board. The casting was announced in October 2018. ''Looking for Alaska'' was released to Hulu on October 18, 2019. The series was critically well-received, with Kathryn VanArendonk of ''Vulture'' calling it a "rare adaptation that dismantles the original in order to build something that works better."

In 2019, ''Let It Snow'' was adapted into a film of the same name by Netflix. On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on reviews from 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

In 2017, Green authorized a stage play adaptation of ''The Fault in Our Stars''. The play was written by theatre director Tobin Strader of Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis and four students at the high school. It was performed in 2019.

In August 2014, India's Fox Star Studios announced it would adapt ''The Fault in Our Stars'' into an Indian Hindi-language film, with the working title of ''Kizie Aur Manny''. Filming began in July 2018, in Jamshedpur, with first-time director Mukesh Chhabra and lead actor Sushant Singh Rajput and lead actress Sanjana Sanghi. This adaptation ages up the characters and changes the main setting to India. The title of the movie was later changed to ''Dil Bechara'' (''The Helpless Heart"'') and is named after one of the original songs written for the movie. Music composer A. R. Rahman composed the background music and songs of the movie. The film was scheduled to be released on May 8, 2020, after having been initially scheduled in November 2019, but was later postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India. It was released on July 24, 2020, on Disney+ Hotstar and was met with mainly positive reviews.

The 2020 Chinese film ''A Little Red Flower'' has been noted for having significant similarities to ''The Fault in Our Stars'', which was never theatrically released in China. ''The Hollywood Reporter'' reported on January 13, 2021, that Fox had attempted to create a Chinese remake to ''The Fault in Our Stars'' in 2016, with the former president of Fox International Productions, Tomas Jegeus, confirming that a remake was indeed in development at the studio with Yin Lu and Han Yan producing and Yu Yonggan writing the film's script. Shortly after, two official film notices announced that the remake was in the works, but after the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, the studio decided to drop the film in 2018 to work on ''Dil Bechara''. In 2018, a notice was released by the China Film Administration for a project titled ''Hopeless in Love'', which would be produced by HG Entertainment and Lian Ray Pictures, with a premise similar to the original remake that had been in development. In 2020, ''A Little Red Flower'' was released from the same production companies, and with Yin Lu producing, Yu Yonggan co-writing, and Han Yan directing, but with no credit or mentions to Fox. However, Han said that many of the scenes portrayed in the story were inspired by real-life events that he witnessed himself. Both Disney, who acquired Fox, and ''A Little Red Flowers co-producer Lian Ray have declined to comment on the matter.

In December 2017, Green announced that a film adaptation of ''Turtles All The Way Down'' was in development by Fox 2000 and Temple Hill Productions. In May 2018, Green confirmed that the film adaptation would be written by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, the screenwriters for '' Love, Simon''. In January 2019, it was announced that Hannah Marks would direct the movie. After Fox 2000 was closed as part of the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, the film was put on hold. In March 2022, it was announced the film had switched studios to New Line Cinema and would be released on the streaming service HBO Max. The film is set to star Isabela Merced and began filming in April 2022. Green and Rosianna Halse Rojas have served as executive producers.

Partners In Health

Since the mid-2010s, John and Hank Green and their families have supported the international public health nonprofit Partners In Health (PIH). Beginning with the annual Project for Awesome fundraiser in 2013, Partners In Health received $50,000 as one of the community-chosen charities. The charity was first selected as one of the "designated charities" the following year, meaning Green and the other organizers had chosen for it to receive approximately half the money raised during the first 24 hours of the 48 hour event, totaling $291,000. It was again selected as a designated charity in 2016 before becoming a permanent designated charity in every iteration of the fundraiser since 2018.

In October 2018, Green founded the Life's Library book club with Rosianna Halse Rojas. The book club read a book approximately every 6 weeks, with online discussion occurring on the Life's Library Discord. Green and Rojas alternated choosing books, with guest curators occasionally making selections. Life's Library was free to participate in, with paid options available to receive digital or physical subscriptions, containing additional materials such as a discussion podcast, or a version of the book itself. All profits from Life's Library were donated to Partners In Health Sierra Leone. The Life's Library project ended in March 2022 and the discussion Discord was archived.

John and Sarah Urist Green visited Sierra Leone in April 2019 after John was inspired by a December 2017 profile in ''The New Yorker'' on PIH co-founder Ophelia Dahl. In October 2019, Green announced that he, Hank, and their families would be donating $6.5 million to Sierra Leone's branch of Partners In Health, as part of an initiative to raise $25 million over the following five years. The goal of the initiative is to help fight maternal mortality, specifically in the country's Kono District, where the money will be used to staff and support the Maternal Center of Excellence, among other primary care centers and health workers.

In August 2019, John and Hank performed live versions of their own podcasts on stage, with John presenting a new episode of ''The Anthropocene Reviewed'', as well as a live episode of their shared podcast '' Dear Hank & John'', with all profits going to Partners In Health. The live performances returned in March 2020 with a planned three-city tour including stops in Columbus, Ohio and Carmel, Indiana, with a third performance set for Ann Arbor, Michigan. However, the third performance was cancelled due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

In November 2020, John and Hank started the "Awesome Socks Club", a monthly subscription service where members receive a pair of socks designed by independent artists. All post-tax profits are donated to the charity, in a business model similar to Newman's Own products. , the Awesome Socks Club had 45,000 members.

The Maternal Center of Excellence broke ground in April 2021, with a planned opening in 2023.

In March 2022, the brothers started the "Awesome Coffee Club", with an identical business model and goal to the Awesome Socks Club. The coffee is ethically sourced from Columbia via the brothers' sourcing partner Sucafina. The beans are then roasted in St. Louis, Missouri and distributed through DFTBA's fulfillment center in Missoula, Montana. In August 2022, Hank Green reported that the Awesome Socks Club had over 40,000 subscribers and the Awesome Coffee Club had over 10,000 subscribers.

After receiving $429,000 from the Project for Awesome in 2021 and over $100,000 from that year's Pizzamas, Partner in Health received over $1 million during the 2022 Project for Awesome. The week prior to the 2022 Project for Awesome, Partners In Health co-founder Paul Farmer unexpectedly died at the age of 62. Green wrote a tribute to Farmer for ''The Washington Post''.

Green became a member of the board of trustees for Partners in Health in 2022.

Appearances and side projects

On January 1, 2017, Green began a YouTube series titled "100 Days" in collaboration with his friend Chris Waters. The pair endeavored to get fit and establish healthy habits, while avoiding emphasis on weight loss. Near the end of the effort, Green fundraised for a 10K charity run for Exodus Refugee Immigration, an Indianapolis-based refugee resettlement organization.

In February 2018, Viacom acquired VidCon, with the Green brothers, particularly Hank, still being involved in its operation.

Hank Green released his debut novel ''An Absolutely Remarkable Thing'' in September 2018. To promote his brother's book, John Green started a surprise campaign to promote Hank's novel, including renting several billboards near their hometown of Orlando, sponsoring four FIRST robotics teams and a college rugby club in Montana, and making ''An Absolutely Remarkable Thing'' the official training kit sponsor of AFC Wimbledon, among other advertisements. John also joined Hank for six of his book tour stops.

At the end of 2018, John Green chose to leave social media for a year, including Twitter, where he had more than 5 million followers. In January 2019, Green wrote an op-ed for ''The Washington Post'' on his decision, saying "I had noticed over the past couple of years that my attention had become more fractured. I found it harder to lose myself in a book, for instance, without feeling the urge to check my phone or open my laptop." In December 2022, Green exited the platform in response to the policy changes made after Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter.

In March 2019, Green moderated a discussion with former First Lady Michelle Obama on her memoir '' Becoming'' as part of a YouTube-sponsored event titled " BookTube".

In April 2019, Green recorded a live version of the podcast ''Harry Potter and the Sacred Text'' at the Indianapolis Central Public Library.

Green gave a virtual commencement address to all graduates in May 2020 during the beginning months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Green created a TikTok account in 2020, which has over 2 million followers and 48 million views .

In September 2021, Green continued his advocacy for refugees, writing an op-ed in ''The Independent'' on the need for education for refugee children.

In October 2022, Green gave the opening lecture at Harvard University's 2022 William Belden Noble Lecture series, titled "How the World Ends".

Influence and reception

Books

Green's books have been translated into 55 languages with more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including ''The Fault in Our Stars'', which is one of the best-selling books of all time. Green's idiosyncratic voice and rapid rise to fame in 2014 are credited with creating a major shift in the young adult fiction market. While reviewing the Andrew Smith young-adult novel, ''Winger'', A. J. Jacobs of ''The New York Times'' used the term "GreenLit" to describe young adult books that contain "sharp dialogue, defective authority figures, occasional boozing, unrequited crushes, and one or more heartbreaking twists." According to ''The Wall Street Journal'', " me credit him with ushering in a new golden era for contemporary, realistic, literary teen fiction, following more than a decade of dominance by books about young wizards, sparkly vampires, and dystopia. A blurb or Twitter endorsement from Mr. Green can ricochet around the Internet and boost sales, an effect book bloggers call 'the John Green effect'." Zareen Jaffery, executive editor of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers said: "What I really like about what people are calling 'the John Green effect' is that there's more of an interest in authentic, genuine, relatable characters." Some readers and authors have been critical of the terms. Green himself voiced his disagreement with the idea that he is single-handedly responsible for launching or promoting any one individual's career.

All of Green's book have received positive critical reception, beginning with his first two novels ''Looking for Alaska'' and ''An Abundance of Katherines'', which received the Printz Award and was named a Printz Honor book respectively. All of his books have also appeared on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list, albeit his first two novels debuting on the list years after their initial release. ''The Fault in Our Stars'' in particular received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. Critics mostly praised the book for its humor, strong characters, language, themes and new perspective on cancer and romance. ''The New York Times'' review of the book called it "a blend of melancholy, sweet, philosophical and funny" and said that it "stays the course of tragic realism", while noting that the book's unpleasant plot details "do nothing to diminish the romance; in Green's hands, they only make it more moving". ''Time'' called ''The Fault in Our Stars'' "damn near genius" and named it as the number one fiction book of 2012. ''USA Today'' described it as an "elegiac comedy" and gave the book a rating of four out of four stars.

Critics have also noted Green's evolution as an author. With the release of the ''Turtles All the Way Down'' in 2017, several reviewers referenced a dismissive perception of Green's now very popular ''œuvre'' as "sad teen books", which had emerged since the success of ''The Fault in Our Stars''. Despite this, they praised ''Turtles All the Way Down'' as truthful and authentic enough to transcend these imagined drawbacks. Matt Haig of ''The Guardian'' wrote, " 'Turtles All the Way Down''often dwells in cliché, but only as pop songs and epic poems do, mining the universal to create something that speaks to the familiar rhythms of the heart. It might just be a new modern classic." Likewise, with the release of ''The Anthropocene Reviewed'' book in 2021, Scott Neumyer of Shondaland wrote that, "Green may have made his name by writing fiction (and for good reason), but this first foray into nonfiction is his most mature, compelling, and beautifully written book yet."

Green has received criticism for his perceived writing of "Manic Pixie Dream Girls", a term coined by Nathan Rabin to describe a female character that, "exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures". ''Paper Towns'' and the character of Margo Roth Spiegelman have often been cited as a deconstruction of the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" trope, and Green has stated he specifically wrote her as such. In October 2022, Green tweeted, "I think basically all criticisms of my work are correct and justifiable other than the most popular one, 'he writes manic pixie dream girls,' which is just so stupid. ..THE WHOLE POINT OF THE NOVELS is the danger of such misimagining, hence the eventual revelation: 'Margo was not a miracle. She was not an adventure. She was not a fine and precious thing. She was a girl.' It's not like I made it subtle." Despite this, some critics have questioned whether the story adequately deconstructed the trope, or merely perpetuated it. Green has readily discussed what he believes to be flaws in his novels when he looked at them in retrospect. Additionally, in response to a fan's tweet, Green apologized for using the word '' retarded'' in ''Paper Towns'', stating, "Yeah, I regret it. At the time, I thought an author's responsibility was to reflect language as I found it. Still, now... eight years later, I don't feel like a book about humanizing the other benefited from dehumanizing language."

Several of Green's books have been the subject of book banning attempts. ''Looking for Alaska'' was named the most challenged book of 2015 by the American Library Association, with some people complaining about the book's "offensive language" and "sexually explicit descriptions". In September 2022, a group of parents attempted to ban the novel from all Orange County, Florida school libraries, a district Green had attended as a child.

Online ventures

As John and Hank Green began uploading YouTube videos regularly in 2007, they became part of the early culture of YouTube as the modern content creator industry was born from the YouTube Partner Program. ''The New York Times'' noted John as having, " nuncanny knack for channeling the voice of marginalized but smart, self-identifying nerds, a gift he has turned into a YouTube empire." Many others have come to regard the brothers and their YouTube empire as pioneering in the online video space. In 2011, ''The Daily Dot'' named the Green brothers as the most important people on YouTube.

The Vlogbrothers' content has received positive reception from commentators and fans alike, especially for the shared values expounded by their videos. Amelia Thomson-Deveaux writing for ''The American Prospect'' commented that, "what makes Nerdfighteria so potent does seem to be the moral imperative that the Brothers Green throw at their bajillion viewers' feet: to take their weirdness and anxiety and turn it into empathy. It's become kind of a culture." The ''Crash Course'' project has also been successful in its reach, with the John Green-hosted "World History" series alone having attracted millions of viewers.

Personal life and interests

Green is married to Sarah Urist Green, with whom he has two children: Henry (born 2010) and Alice (born 2013). John and Sarah met when they both attended the same preparatory school in Indian Springs, Alabama. They became reacquainted eight years later in Chicago, when Green began dating Sarah's boxing partner; after they broke up, John became friends with Sarah. The two became engaged in April 2005 and married in May 2006. In early videos on the VlogBrothers channel, Sarah is referred to as "the Yeti" due to her not appearing visibly on camera, though she no longer is referred to as such.

Green was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and has lived there since 2007. The city has served as the setting for several of his novels, and he wrote a review of it in his podcast and book of essays ''The Anthropocene Reviewed''. Green often speaks of his love for the city. On July 14, 2015, Greg Ballard, the mayor of Indianapolis, proclaimed that that day would be "John Green Day" in his city. That month, Teresa Jacobs, the mayor of Orange County, Florida, declared that July 17 would also be John Green Day.

Green is an Episcopalian Christian, and was married in a Catholic church.

Green is an avid sports fan. Green drove the pace car at the 2016 Indianapolis 500, and was honorary co-chairman of the 500 Festival Host Committee that year. He is also a supporter of the English football club Liverpool F.C. of the Premier League and an official sponsor of the English League Two club AFC Wimbledon. Starting in 2011, Green had a gaming series on YouTube where he played ''FIFA'', first as the "Swoodilypoopers", a fictionalized version of Swindon Town F.C., and then, starting in 2013, as the "Wimbly Womblys," a fictionalized version of AFC Wimbledon. Advertising revenue from the series was donated to the team.

Works

Books

* ''Looking for Alaska'' (2005)
* ''An Abundance of Katherines'' (2006)
* '' Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances'' (2008) – with Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle
* ''Paper Towns'' (2008)
* ''Will Grayson, Will Grayson'' (2010) – with David Levithan
* ''The Fault in Our Stars'' (2012)
* '' This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl'' (2014) – Introduction only
* '' Turtles All the Way Down'' (2017)
* '' The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet'' (2021)

Short stories

* "The Approximate Cost of Loving Caroline," ''Twice Told: Original Stories Inspired by Original Artwork'', illustrated by Scott Hunt (2006)
* "The Great American Morp," ''21 Proms'', edited by David Levithan and Daniel Ehrenhaft (2007)
* "Freak the Geek," ''Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd'', edited by Holly Black (2009)
* "Reasons," ''What You Wish For: A Book for Darfur'' (2011)

Other

* ''Cocktail Party Cheat Sheets'' (2006), ''Mental Floss'' gift book for which Green served as an editor and contributor
* ''Scatterbrained'' (2006), ''Mental Floss'' gift book for which Green served as an editor and contributor
* ''What's the Difference?'' (2006), ''Mental Floss'' gift book for which Green served as an editor and contributor
* ''Thisisnottom'' (2009), an interactive novel hidden behind riddles.
* ''Zombicorns'' (2010), an online Creative Commons licensed zombie novella."Didn’t get your chance to get your hands on John Green’s Zombie Apocalypse Novella?"
. EffYeahNerdFighters.com.
* ''The War for Banks Island'' (2012), a sequel to ''Zombicorns'', released as a Project for Awesome donation perk.
* ''The Sequel'' (2012), an unfinished novel, much of which was reworked into ''The Fault in Our Stars''. The first 6,000 words were released as a Project for Awesome donation perk.
* ''Space'' and ''The Cat and the Mouse'' (2013), stories released as Project for Awesome donation perks
* ''An Imperial Affliction'' (2014), extracts used as a prop in the film adaptation of ''The Fault in Our Stars'' and later released as a Project for Awesome donation perk.

Filmography

Awards

See also

* List of YouTubers

References

Primary sources

External links

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1977 births
21st-century American Episcopalians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American novelists
American Christians
American feminist writers
American literary critics
American male non-fiction writers
American male novelists
American podcasters
American radio writers
American young adult novelists
American YouTubers
Charity fundraisers (people)
Christian novelists
DFTBA Records creators
Edgar Award winners
Educational and science YouTubers
Indian Springs School alumni
Internet activists
Kenyon College alumni
Living people
Male bloggers
Male feminists
American male YouTubers
Michael L. Printz Award winners
Nerd culture
Novelists from Alabama
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Novelists from Indiana
People with obsessive–compulsive disorder
Shorty Award winners
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Writers from Birmingham, Alabama
Writers from Indianapolis
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