John Michael Green

ABOUT JOHN:
John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American
author, YouTuber, 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. Green is also 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. 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 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). 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.
AWARDS
WORK
Books
 Looking for Alaska (2005)
 An Abundance of Katherines (2006)
 Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances (2008)
 Paper Towns (2008)[
 Will Grayson, Will Grayson (2010) – with David Levithan
 The Fault in Our Stars (2012)
 Turtles All the Way Down (2017)
 The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet (2021)
Short stories
 "The Approximate Cost of Loving Caroline"
 "The Great American Morp,"
 "Freak the Geek," Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd, edited by Holly Black (2009)
 "Reasons," What You Wish For: A Book for Darfur (2011)

Appearances and other 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.
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." Green created a TikTok account in 2020, which has over 2 million
followers and 48 million views as of October 2022. In December 2022,
Green left Twitter in response to the policy changes made after Elon
Musk's acquisition of Twitter.
Green is a frequent lecturer and moderated discussion host. 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". Green gave a virtual commencement address to all
graduates in May 2020 during the beginning months of the COVID-19
pandemic. In April 2019, Green recorded a live version of the
podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text at the Indianapolis Central Public
Library. In October 2022, Green gave the opening lecture at Harvard
University's 2022 William Belden Noble Lecture series, titled "How the
World Ends"