John Green

John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author and YouTuber. More than 50 million copies of his books have been printed around the world. His book The Fault in Our Stars (2012) is one of the best-selling books of all time. Green became famous quickly, and his unique voice helped bring big changes to the young adult fiction market. He is also well known for his online videos, especially the YouTube channel he started with his younger brother Hank Green.

Green was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and grew up in Orlando, Florida. He then went to a boarding school near Birmingham, Alabama. He studied at Kenyon College and graduated in 2000 with two majors, English and religious studies. While he wrote his first novel, Looking for Alaska (2005), Green worked at Booklist in Chicago. The book won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award. In 2007, he and John and his brother Hank started the Vlogbrothers YouTube channel. It grew into an online community called Nerdfighteria and a yearly fundraiser called Project for Awesome.

Over the next few years, Green wrote more novels, including Paper Towns (2008) and Will Grayson, Will Grayson (2010), which he wrote with David Levithan. From 2010 to 2013, he and Hank started more online projects. These included VidCon, a yearly conference for the online video community, and Crash Course, an educational channel. His novel The Fault in Our Stars and its 2014 movie adaptation were very successful. In 2014, Time magazine included him on its list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Green's later books, Turtles All the Way Down (2017) and The Anthropocene Reviewed, look more directly at his anxiety and obsessive–compulsive disorder. The Anthropocene Reviewed started as a podcast in January 2018. In it, Green reviewed different parts of the Anthropocene on a five-star scale. In 2021, he turned the podcast into his first nonfiction book.

Since the mid-2010s, Green has supported global health causes. He is a trustee for Partners In Health (PIH), which works to reduce maternal mortality in Sierra Leone. He has also worked with PIH and other groups to fight tuberculosis around the world. His second nonfiction book, Everything Is Tuberculosis, came out in March 2025. His first novel for adults, Hollywood, Ending, was released in September 2026.

Early life and education

John Michael Green was born on August 24, 1977, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Mike and Sydney Green. Within two months, his family moved to Michigan, then to Birmingham, Alabama, and finally to Orlando, Florida. There he went to Glenridge Middle School and Lake Highland Preparatory School. His father led the state office of The Nature Conservancy in Michigan and Florida. His mother was a stay-at-home mother and later worked for a nonprofit called the Healthy Community Initiative. At age 15, he began attending Indian Springs School outside Birmingham, Alabama, and graduated in 1995. There he became good friends with Daniel Alarcón, who also later became an author. His future wife, Sarah Urist, went to Indian Springs at the same time, but they did not become friends until the early 2000s.

Green has said that he had a happy childhood, but he was not always a happy child. He has dealt with severe anxiety and obsessive–compulsive disorder his whole life. He has also talked about being bullied during high school, which made his teenage years very hard. In 1995, Green started at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. He graduated in 2000 with two majors, in English and religious studies. There he became friends with Ransom Riggs, and they performed together in a comedy troupe. After graduating, Green spent about half a year as a student chaplain at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He was also enrolled at the University of Chicago Divinity School, but he never actually went. He had planned to become an Episcopal priest. However, his time working with children who had serious illnesses and injuries changed his plans. These experiences inspired him to become an author and later to write The Fault in Our Stars.

Career

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In 2001, Green started working as an editorial assistant at the book review journal Booklist. Later, he became a production editor there. He wrote his first novel, Looking for Alaska, which was published in 2005. The book won the Michael L. Printz Award, and it sold many copies soon after. His later novels include Paper Towns (2008) and The Fault in Our Stars (2012). The Fault in Our Stars was very popular, and it was made into a movie in 2014.

In 2007, Green and his brother Hank started making videos together. This project grew into the Vlogbrothers YouTube channel, which has many fans. In 2012, the brothers also started the educational channel Crash Course. Green has also written nonfiction books, including The Anthropocene Reviewed (2021) and Everything Is Tuberculosis (2025). In 2026, he announced a new novel, Hollywood, Ending. It is set to come out in September 2026.

Influence and reception

All of Green's books have been well reviewed by critics and have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list. They have been translated into 55 languages and have sold more than 50 million copies worldwide. The Fault in Our Stars is one of the best-selling books of all time. Green's unique voice and quick rise to fame in 2014 are often credited with bringing a big change to young adult fiction. In a review of Winger by Andrew Smith, A. J. Jacobs of The New York Times used the term "GreenLit" for young adult books with sharp dialogue, imperfect adults, and emotional twists. According to The Wall Street Journal, some people credit Green with starting a new golden age of realistic teen fiction. A recommendation from him can also boost sales online. Zareen Jaffery of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers said she liked that readers wanted characters who feel real and relatable. Some readers and authors have criticized these terms. Green himself said he is not solely responsible for launching anyone's career.

Critics have also noticed how Green's writing has grown. When Turtles All the Way Down came out in 2017, reviewers said some people had dismissed his popular books as "sad teen books." However, they praised this novel as honest and true to life. Matt Haig of The Guardian suggested it might become a "new modern classic." Scott Neumyer of Shondaland said The Anthropocene Reviewed was Green's most mature book so far.

Green has also been criticized for writing "Manic Pixie Dream Girls," a term created by Nathan Rabin for a character who mainly exists to help a sensitive young man. Green has said that Paper Towns and its character Margo Roth Spiegelman were meant to show the problem with this idea. Some critics still question whether the story succeeded. After a fan's tweet, Green apologized for using a word in Paper Towns and said he regretted it.

Several of Green's books have faced attempts at book banning. Looking for Alaska was named the most challenged book of 2015 by the American Library Association. In September 2022, a group of parents tried to remove it from all school libraries in Orange County, Florida, where Green went to school as a child. In August 2023, The Fault in Our Stars was moved from the young adult section to the general collection at a library in the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers, Indiana. This followed a board policy. Green wrote a letter asking the board to "walk this awful policy back." A local company also made a t-shirt based on his tweet about the town, and the money went to the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library. After the move drew attention, the board returned the book to the young adult section and later suspended the policy. In October, Green spoke about book banning at an event hosted by Indiana State Senator Andrea Hunley at the Indianapolis Central Library. In November 2023, Green joined a lawsuit by Penguin Random House, the Iowa State Education Association, and authors Laurie Halse Anderson, Malinda Lo, and Jodi Picoult. The lawsuit was against the state of Iowa over a law that removed some books from schools. In August 2024, he joined another lawsuit by Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks. Authors Julia Alvarez, Laurie Halse Anderson, Jodi Picoult, and Angie Thomas also joined. They challenged the state of Florida over its book-banning law.

John and Hank Green began uploading YouTube videos regularly in 2007. They became part of the early community of YouTube Partner Program creators. The New York Times said John had a gift for speaking to smart people who call themselves nerds, and he turned that into a large YouTube following. In 2011, The Daily Dot named the Green brothers the most important people on YouTube. Commentators and fans have praised their shared values. Amelia Thomson-Deveaux of The American Prospect wrote that the brothers encourage their many viewers to turn their weirdness and worries into kindness toward others. The Crash Course project, including John Green's "World History" series, has also reached millions of viewers.

Personal life and interests

Green is an Episcopalian and was married in a Catholic church. He is married to Sarah Urist Green, and they have two children. John and Sarah went to the same school in Indian Springs, Alabama. They met again eight years later in Chicago. Green first dated Sarah's boxing partner. After that relationship ended, he became friends with Sarah. They got engaged in April 2005 and married in May 2006. In early videos on the VlogBrothers channel, Sarah was called "the Yeti" because she did not appear on camera. She is no longer called that.

Green was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and has lived there since 2007. He often talks about how much he loves the city. It is the setting for several of his novels. He also reviewed the city in his podcast and essay book The Anthropocene Reviewed. On July 14, 2015, Greg Ballard, the mayor of Indianapolis, declared "John Green Day" in the city. That same month, Teresa Jacobs, the mayor of Orange County, Florida, declared July 24 would also be John Green Day.

Green is a big sports fan. In 2016 he drove the pace car at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and was honorary co-chairman of the 500 Festival Host Committee. He supports the English football club Liverpool F.C. of the Premier League. He is also an official sponsor of the English League One club AFC Wimbledon. Since 2014, the team's kit has shown a Nerdfighters emblem on the back of the shorts. From 2011, he had a YouTube gaming series where he played FIFA. At first he played as the "Swoodilypoopers," a fictional version of Swindon Town F.C.. From 2013, he played as the "Wimbly Womblys," a fictional version of AFC Wimbledon. Advertising money from the series was given to the team. In January 2025, Green helped Marcus Browne move to Wimbledon. He partly used money he earned from livestreaming. Green has also said he has aphantasia.

Works

John Green wrote several early novels, including Looking for Alaska (2005), An Abundance of Katherines (2006), and Paper Towns (2008). He also wrote a story for Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances (2008) with Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle. He wrote Will Grayson, Will Grayson (2010) with David Levithan.

His later novels include The Fault in Our Stars (2012), Turtles All the Way Down (2017), and Hollywood, Ending (2026). His non-fiction books are The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet (2021) and Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection (2025).

Green has also written short stories. One is "The Great American Morp" in 21 Proms (2007). Another is "Freak the Geek" in Geektastic (2009), which was edited by Holly Black. He also wrote Zombicorns (2010), a short online novel about zombies that is shared under a Creative Commons license. His book An Imperial Affliction (2014) was used as a prop in the movie of The Fault in Our Stars. Green also wrote introductions for books by other authors. These include This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl (2014), My Drunk Kitchen by Hannah Hart (2014), and The Golden Rule (2019) by Ilene Cooper.

Awards