William Paul Young (born May 11, 1955), referred to as Wm. Paul Young or simply Paul Young, is a Canadian author. He wrote the novels '' The Shack'', '' Cross Roads'', ''

Eve Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...

'', and the religious book ''Lies We Believe About God''.

Early life

Young is the oldest of four, born May 11, 1955, in

Grande Prairie Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 (part of the CANAMEX Corridor) and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway), a ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada, but the majority of his first decade was lived with his missionary parents in the highlands of Netherlands New Guinea ( West Papua), among the Dani, a central highlands people of western New Guinea. These became his family and as the first white child and outsider who ever spoke their language, he was granted unusual access into their culture and community. When he was six he was sent to a boarding school.

Career

Young originally wrote primarily as a way to create unique gifts for his friends, until his wife repeatedly urged him to write something for their six children in order to put down in one place his perspectives on God and on the inner healing Young had experienced as an adult. The resulting manuscript, which later became '' The Shack'', was intended only for his six kids and for a handful of close friends. Young initially printed just 15 copies of his book. Two of his close friends encouraged him to have it published, and assisted with some editing and rewriting in order to prepare the manuscript for publication. After rejection by 26 publishers, Young and his friends published the book under the name of their newly created publishing company, Windblown Media, in 2007. The company spent only C$200 in advertising; word-of-mouth referrals eventually drove the book to number one on the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' trade paperback fiction best-seller list in June 2008. "The Shack" was the top-selling fiction and audio book of 2008 in America through November 30. Young's second book, ''Cross Roads'', was published on November 13, 2012 by

FaithWords Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a publishing company owned by Hachette (publisher), Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidi ...

. Young's ''Eve'' was released on September 15, 2015 by Howard Books. Young's latest book, ''Lies We Believe About God,'' released March 7, 2017. Like ''The Shack'', it has been the subject of theological criticism. One critic, Tim Challies, says Young is a universalist, teaching that everyone is saved.

Personal life

In 2015, Young lived in Happy Valley,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

with his wife. he lives in Washington. Young has six children and eight grandchildren.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, William P. 1955 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American male novelists People from Gresham, Oregon Novelists from Oregon Canadian Christians Canadian emigrants to the United States People from Grande Prairie Christian novelists Canadian male novelists 21st-century American male writers People from Happy Valley, Oregon