John Green (author)

John Green

Green at VidCon in June 2014
Born John Michael Green
August 24, 1977
Indianapolis, Indiana, US
Occupation Author, critic, web host, historian
Nationality American
Education B.A., English and Religious studies
Alma mater Kenyon College
Period 2005–present
Genre Young-adult fiction, radio, video
Notable works
Notable awards Michael L. Printz Award
2006 Looking for Alaska
Edgar Award
2009 Paper Towns
Spouse Sarah Urist Green (m. 2006)[1]
Children
  • Henry Green
  • Alice Green
Relatives

Hank Green (brother)

Henry Mackenzie Green (Great Grandfather)
Signature
Website
johngreenbooks.com
Green at the Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, in 2008

John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author of young adult fiction, YouTube video blogger (vlogger), historian and creator of online educational videos. He won the 2006 Printz Award for his debut novel, Looking for Alaska,[2] and his most recent novel, The Fault in Our Stars, debuted at number 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list in January 2012.[3] The 2014 film adaptation opened at #1 at the box office.[4] In the summer of 2015, his novel "Paper Towns" will be released as a motion picture. In 2014, Green was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.[5]

Aside from being a novelist, Green is also well known for his YouTube ventures. In 2007, he launched the VlogBrothers channel with his brother, Hank Green. Since then, John and Hank have launched events such as Project for Awesome and VidCon and created a total of 11 online series including Crash Course, an educational channel teaching literature, history, and science.[6]

Early life and career

Green was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Mike and Sydney Green.[7] Three weeks after he was born, his family moved to Michigan, then later Birmingham, Alabama, and finally to Orlando, Florida.[8][9] He attended Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, and Indian Springs School outside of Birmingham, Alabama, the latter of which he later used as the inspiration for the main setting of his first book, Looking for Alaska.[10] Green graduated from Kenyon College in 2000 with a double major in English and Religion Studies. [11] He has spoken about being bullied and how it had made life as a teenager miserable for him.[12]

After graduating from college, Green spent five months working as a student chaplain in a children's hospital while enrolled at the University of Chicago Divinity School (although he never actually attended the school).[13] He intended to become an Episcopal priest, but his experiences of working in a hospital with children suffering from life-threatening illnesses inspired him to become an author, and later to write The Fault in Our Stars.[14]

Green lived for several years in Chicago, where he worked for the book review journal Booklist as a publishing assistant and production editor while writing Looking for Alaska.[9] While there, he reviewed hundreds of books, particularly literary fiction and books about Islam or conjoined twins.[15] He has also critiqued books for The New York Times Book Review and created original radio essays for NPR's All Things Considered and WBEZ, Chicago's public radio station.[15] Green later lived in New York City for two years while his wife attended graduate school.

Writings

Green's first novel, Looking for Alaska, published by Dutton Children's Books in 2005, is a school story and teen romance inspired by his experiences at Indian Springs, fictionalized as Culver Creek Preparatory High School.[16] The novel was awarded the annual Michael L. Printz Award by the American Library Association, recognizing the year's "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit".[2] It also appeared on the ALA's annual list Top 10 Best Books for Young Adults. The film rights were purchased in 2005 by Paramount, which hired Josh Schwartz as writer and director, but five years later, with no further progress on the project, Green told fans that, while he "desperately loved" the screenplay, there seemed to be little interest at Paramount.[17] As sales of Looking for Alaska continued to increase in 2011, Green showed mixed feelings about a movie, which he felt would threaten readers' "intense and private connection to the story".[18] In 2012, the book reached The New York Times Best Seller list for children's paperbacks.[19] Green's second novel, An Abundance of Katherines (Dutton, 2006) was a runner-up for the Printz Award and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

With fellow young adult authors Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle, Green collaborated on Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances (Speak, 2008), which consists of three interconnected short stories, including Green's "A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle", each set in the same small town on Christmas Eve, during a massive snowstorm. In November 2009, that book reached Number 10 on The New York Times Best Seller list for paperback children's books.[20]

In 2008, Green's third novel, Paper Towns, debuted at number five on The New York Times Best Seller list for children's books,[21] and the movie rights were optioned by Mandate Pictures and Mr. Mudd;[22] Green was hired to write the Paper Towns screenplay. In 2009, Paper Towns was awarded the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel[23] 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 2010.[24][25] 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),[26] and the Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production.

In August 2009, Green announced he was writing a new book entitled The Sequel,[27] which was later scrapped. His fifth book, titled The Fault in Our Stars was released in January 2012. He crafted the novel by collaborating with Dutton editor Julie Strauss-Gabel.[28] Green explained that several parts of The Sequel were reworked into The Fault in Our Stars.[29] Green signed all 150,000 copies of the first printing and his wife and his brother applied their own symbols, a Yeti and an Anglerfish (known as the "Hanklerfish"), respectively. The New York Times Best Seller list for children's books listed The Fault in Our Stars at number one for two weeks in January and February 2012.[3][30] The novel has been made into a major motion picture of the same name, released in the United States on June 6, 2014.[31]

In late 2013, Green stated that he is writing a new book with the working title The Racket.[32] He sold 5,000 words of a rough draft on IndieGoGo for $10 in order to raise money as part of the Project for Awesome charity event.[33]

Green's rapid rise to fame and idiosyncratic voice are credited with creating a major shift in the young adult fiction market. According to the Wall Street Journal, "[s]ome 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 bump.'" 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."[6]

Other projects

VlogBrothers

Main article: VlogBrothers

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. The two agreed that they would forgo all text-based communication with each other for the duration of the project, instead maintaining their relationship by exchanging video blogs, each submitting one to the other on each alternate day. These videos were uploaded to a YouTube channel called "vlogbrothers" (as well as the brothers' own website) where they reached a wide audience.[34][35] In what would have been the project's final video, the brothers revealed that they would extend their video correspondence indefinitely,[36] and as of 2015 they have continued exchanging their unique vlogs.

Since the project's inception the duo have gained a wide reaching international fanbase whose members identify collectively as "Nerdfighters".[37] The group, in collaboration with the two brothers, promote and participate in a number of humanitarian efforts, including the Project for Awesome, an annual charity fundraiser, a Nerdfighter lending group on the microfinancing website Kiva which to date has loaned over $4 million to entrepreneurs in the developing world,[38] and the Foundation to Decrease World Suck, the brothers' own charity.[39]

In addition to the main VlogBrothers channel, the brothers have also created a number of side-projects. These include Truth or Fail, a YouTube game show hosted by Hank and a variety of guest hosts, HankGames (either "with..." or "without Hank"), which consists mostly of screen-capture footage of various videogames, and the Emmy award-winning The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a modernized serialization of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.[40]

In 2012, following a grant from Google, the brothers launched a pair of short-format educational video series entitled Crash Course, which presents World History, American History, and Literature (hosted by John) and Chemistry, Biology, Ecology and Psychology (hosted by Hank) and SciShow.[41]

Green is also the host of the YouTube channel for the magazine Mental Floss.[42] He was a contributor to the magazine for a period in the mid-2000s.[43]

VidCon

Main article: VidCon

VidCon is an annual conference for the online video community. The conference was created by the Greens in 2010 in response to the growing online video community. Hank states, “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.”[44] The event draws many popular YouTube users, as well as their fans, and provides room for the community to interact. The event also contains an industry conference for people and businesses working in the online video field.

Project for Awesome

Main article: Project for Awesome

In 2007, the Greens introduced the charity project entitled the Project for Awesome (P4A),[45] a project in which YouTube users take two days, traditionally December 17 and 18, to create videos promoting charities or non-profit organizations of their choosing. They raised a total of $483,446, surpassing their goal of $100,000.[46] The event has continued annually and in December 2013, the Project for Awesome raised $869,291. Money is raised through donations to an Indiegogo campaign where supporters can pledge money and receive donated perks like signed photographs, books, and art in return. The Green brothers also donate one cent for each comment made on a Project for Awesome video during the event. There is a livestream that lasts for the duration of the Project for Awesome, which is hosted by John Green, Hank Green, and other YouTube personalities.

Mental Floss

Main article: Mental Floss

Green is the frontman for the magazine Mental Floss's YouTube channel. Alongside other presenters, like Craig Benzine and Elliott Morgan, John Green presents "The List Show" in which he lists off interesting facts centered on one particular subject matter, like "26 amusing facts about amusement parks". These episodes are directed by Mark Olsen and are produced by John and Hank Green and Stan Muller.

Personal life

Green lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with his wife, Sarah Urist Green, whom he married on May 21, 2006.[47] She worked as the Curator of Contemporary Art at Indianapolis Museum of Art before leaving to start The Art Assignment, a web series with PBS.[48] In videos on the VlogBrothers channel, Sarah Green is referred to as "the Yeti" due to her not appearing visibly on camera. Her first appearance on YouTube was in a Google Hangout video chat with President Obama, during which she and her husband asked the President whether they should name their unborn daughter Eleanor or Alice.[49] They have two children, Henry and Alice, as well as a West Highland Terrier named "Willy".[50] Green has stated that he is an Episcopalian Christian.[51] John is an avid fan of Liverpool F.C. of the Premier League, and has publicly discussed English football.[52] As of 2014, John is also a shorts sponsor of English League Two club AFC Wimbledon, of whom he is also a keen admirer.[53]

Works

Books

Short stories

Other

Awards and nominations

Year Award
Ceremony		 Work Category Result Ref
2006 Michael L. Printz Award Looking For Alaska N/A Won [61]
2007 An Abundance of Katherines N/A Nominated (Honor) [62]
2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award Paper Towns Best Young Adult Novel Won [23]
2010 Corine Literature Prize Paper Towns Young Adult Novel Won [63]
2012 Indiana Authors Award N/A National Author Award Won [64]
2013 Children's Choice Book Awards The Fault in Our Stars Teen Book of the Year Won [65]
2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prize N/A Innovator's Award Won [66]
2014 mtvU Fandom Awards N/A Visionary Award Won [67]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Margaret Talbot, June 9, 2014, The New Yorker, The Teen Whisperer, Retrieved April 19, 2015, "... his wife, Sarah Urist Green, ..."
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Michael L. Printz Winners and Honor Books". YALSA. American Library Association. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Best Sellers - Children's Chapter Books". The New York Times. January 29, 2012.
  4. ↑ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3855&p=.htm
  5. ↑ "John Green | TIME.com". Time Magazine. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Alter, Alexandria (May 14, 2014). "John Green and His Nerdfighters Are Upending the Summer Blockbuster Model". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  7. ↑ John Green (2012). The Fault in Our Stars. London: Penguin. p. 316. ISBN 0-525-47881-7.
  8. ↑ "Brotherhood 2.0: May 16: Beating the EBO into the ground" on YouTube. VlogBrothers. May 16, 2007; 2:25
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Biographical Questions - John Green". johngreenbooks.com. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Looking for Alaska at My High School". VlogBrothers. Youtube.com. August 6, 2010.
  11. ↑ "About John Green". Book Series In Order. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  12. ↑ On Middle School Misery. VlogBrothers (Youtube.com). Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  13. ↑ John Green (November 2, 2011). "Hospital Chaplain: The Miracle of Swindon Town #33". Hankgames. YouTube.com. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Interview: John Green". Sydney Morning Herald. January 21, 2012. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Author Interview: John Green". Book Wholesalers, Inc. Archived from the original on November 20, 2008.
  16. ↑ "Questions about Looking for Alaska (Spoilers!)". JohnGreenBooks.com.
  17. ↑ "Movie Questions". JohnGreenBooks.com. June 2010. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
  18. ↑ "What happened to a Looking For Alaska movie?". John Green Tumblr blog. October 26, 2011.
  19. ↑ "Best Sellers - Children's Paperback Books". The New York Times. July 29, 2012.
  20. ↑ "Best Sellers - Children's Paperback Books". The New York Times. December 6, 2009.
  21. ↑ "Best Sellers - Children's Books - Chapter Books". The New York Times. October 24, 2008.
  22. ↑ "Paper Towns MOVIE1!!!11!" on YouTube. Vlogbrothers. October 24, 2008
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 "2009 Edgar Award Winners" (PDF). MysteryWriters.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 2012.
  24. ↑ "Interview with David Levithan". The Short Review. Retrieved February 27, 2009.
  25. ↑ "Will Grayson, Will Grayson Hardcover by John Green & David Levithan". Amazon.com.
  26. ↑ "2011 - Stonewall Honor Books in Children and Young Adult Literature". American Library Association.
  27. ↑ "What I'm Working On". August 4, 2009. Archived from the original on December 23, 2009.
  28. ↑ 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...."
  29. ↑ John Green. "Questions about The Fault in Our Stars". John Green Books.
  30. ↑ "Best Sellers - Children's Chapter Books". The New York Times. February 5, 2012.
  31. ↑ ""The Fault In Our Stars Movie" announced release date". USA Today. October 8, 2013. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  32. ↑ Jay Busbee (December 18, 2013). "Author John Green harnesses the power of YouTube for good". Yahoo! News.
  33. ↑ John Green (December 16–21, 2013). "The Project for Awesome - John Green Writing Sneak Peak". IndieGogo.
  34. ↑ Amy Schatz (September 28, 2007). "Local Politics, Web Money", Wall Street Journal.
  35. ↑ "Brothers Reconnect Using Video Blogging", All Things Considered, npr.org; January 20, 2008.
  36. ↑ "Dec 31: Goodbye Brotherhood 2.0" on YouTube. VlogBrothers. December 31, 2007.
  37. ↑ Dean, Michelle (March 13, 2013). "A NOTE ON NERDFIGHTERS". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  38. ↑ "Nerdfighters". Kiva.org.
  39. ↑ "About". The Foundation to Decrease World Suck. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  40. ↑ Rachel Poletick (August 22, 2013). "How 'The Lizzie Bennet Diaries' Won Over an Audience and the Emmys Jury". Yahoo! TV Emmys Blog.
  41. ↑ "Crash Course!". YouTube, Inc. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  42. ↑ Grose, Jessica. "The Green Movement". Mental Floss, LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  43. ↑ "11 Mental Floss Contributors Who Wrote Great Books". Mental Floss, LLC. Retrieved November 26, 2014.
  44. ↑ Hank Green (December 31, 2009). "VidCon Questions Answered". VidCon. YouTube.
  45. ↑ John Green; Hank Green (2011). "Project For Awesome". Project4Awesome 2011. Retrieved May 24, 2012.
  46. ↑ Sam Gutelle (December 21, 2012). "Vlogbrothers Raise $483,446 With Project For Awesome". TubeFilter.
  47. ↑ "May 21st: Comment Bashing, Anniversaries and EBO Ladies". YouTube.com. Event occurs at 0:22.
  48. ↑ "Sarah Green exiting IMA to develop PBS series". The Indy Star. September 25, 2013.
  49. ↑ Obama's 2013 Google+ Fireside Hangout - Complete. The Daily Conversation (YouTube.com). Event occurs at 43:38.
  50. ↑ "A Cutetacular Introduction!". NerdFighteria.info. May 18, 2008.
  51. ↑ "Interview: John Green". Marc McEvoy. The Sydney Morning Herald. July 12, 2009. I was enrolled in divinity school and thought I was going to become a minister - I'm Episcopalian - but I was disavowed of that notion pretty quickly while working at the hospital.
  52. ↑ "Men In Blazers podcast: International break (bring back the Premier League) edition! Plus, John Green’s return" (PODCAST). Men in Blazers. NBCSports.com. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  53. ↑ "John to sponsor Dons kit". July 9, 2014.
  54. ↑ Thisisnottom thisisnottom.com
  55. ↑ Thisisnotforums - The Unofficial Thisisnottom Forums thisisnotforums.com
  56. ↑ "Didn’t get your chance to get your hands on John Green’s Zombie Apocalypse Novella?". EffYeahNerdFighters.com.
  57. ↑ "John Green's NEW Exclusive Zombie Short Story eBook PRE-ORDER". DFTBA Records LLC. Archived from the original on December 15, 2011.
  58. ↑ John Green (August 15, 2012). "I just finally finished THE WAR FOR BANKS ISLAND, the stupid (and very bad) zombie apocalypse story that's six months late". Twitter.com. Retrieved September 16, 2012.
  59. ↑ Pot, Justin (April 7, 2012). "Crash Course: Entertaining YouTube Courses On History & Biology". Make Use Of. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
  60. ↑ John and Hank Green. "CrashCourse on YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved April 19, 2014.
  61. ↑ "2006 Printz Award". Young Adult Library Services Association. American Library Association. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  62. ↑ "Michael L. Printz Winners and Honor Books". Young Adult Library Association. American Library Association. Archived from the original on February 17, 2011. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  63. ↑ "Margos Spuren". Bayerische Buchpreis (in German). Bayerischen Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft und Medien, Energie und Technologie. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  64. ↑ "2012 Indiana Authors Award Recipients Honored". PR Newswire. October 26, 2012. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  65. ↑ "Jeff Kinney, VlogBrother win Children's Choice Book Awards". Global Post. Agence France-Presse. May 14, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  66. ↑ Carolyn Kellogg (April 11, 2014). "Jacket Copy: The winners of the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes are ...". LA Times. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
  67. ↑ Wickman, Kase (July 21, 2014). "John Green To Be Honored With ‘The Visionary Award’ At This Year’s Fandom Awards". MTV. Retrieved August 7, 2014.


External links

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