John Green
Biography
John Green is an American author, vlogger, producer, and editor. He is the New York Times’ bestselling author of the novels ‘Looking for Alaska,’ ‘An Abundance of Katherines,’ ‘Paper Towns,’ and ‘The Fault in Our Stars.’ His books have been translated and published in more than 55 languages, and over 24 million copies have been printed. Green, who has won several awards for his books, is a major critic of his own books. Critics have credited him for creating a new direction in the young adult fiction world. Some even credit him for ushering in a new golden era for realistic teen fiction. In fact, ‘The New York Times’ used the term "GreenLit" to describe his young adult books. The mayor of Indianapolis proclaimed July 14, 2015, as "John Green Day" in his city and the mayor of Orange County declared July 17 as “John Green Day”. Besides his best selling books, he is also famous for his YouTube projects. Green and his brother stopped textual communication, and began to talk through videos, and with these videos was born the ‘VlogBrothers’ YouTube channel. Later they launched ‘Crash Course for Kids,’ an educational YouTube channel, and both the channels have a large number of subscribers and views. He is also an active Twitter user with more than 5 million followers.
Childhood & Early Life
John Michael Green was born on August 24, 1977, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Mike and Sydney Green. Soon after his birth, his family moved to Michigan, then later to Birmingham, Alabama, and finally to Orlando, Florida. His younger brother is William Henry Hank Green II.
He attended Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, and Indian Springs School in Alabama. Green graduated from Kenyon College in 2000 with a double major in English and Religious studies.
After his graduation, he worked as a student chaplain at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, for a few months. He enrolled at the University of Chicago Divinity School, but he never attended it.
He wanted to become a priest, but his experiences at the hospital where he worked and witnessed children suffering from life-threatening diseases inspired him to become an author, and later he wrote the book ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ based on these experiences.
Career
John Green began his career working as a publishing assistant and production editor for Booklist, a book review journal in Chicago. Besides reviewing books, he created radio essays for Chicago's public radio station and NPR's All Things Considered. During this period, he started writing the book ‘Looking for Alaska.’
Published in 2005 by Dutton Children's Books, ‘Looking for Alaska’ was his first novel. It was about teen romance inspired by his experiences at his school, Indian Springs. Paramount purchased the film rights in 2005, but even after five years no film was made. Sales of the book continued to increase over the years and in 2012, it reached The New York Times Best Seller list for children's paperbacks.
Major Works
The novels ‘Looking for Alaska’ and ‘The Fault in Our Stars,’ are both his major works as they became immensely popular. The latter reached the No. 1 position on The New York Times Best Seller list in January 2012.
His YouTube channel VlogBrothers and Crash Course for Kids have also attained much popularity, creating a huge fanbase across the globe for John Green.
