John Green

Novelist John Green was born August 22, 1977 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Three weeks after his birth, his family moved to Orlando, Florida, where Green attended Lake Highland Preparatory School and Indian Springs School, a setting he would later use in his first novel Looking for Alaska (2005). As a teenager Green was a victim of bullying, and described his adolescence as a very unhappy time. After high school, Green went to Kenyon College in Ohio, graduating in 2000 with a double major in English and Religious Studies. After working as a student chaplain in a Chicago children's hospital, Green decided to forgo plans to become an Episcopal minister and, inspired by his experiences with children suffering from chronic illness, decided to become a writer. He drew on these experiences when he wrote The Fault In Our Stars, which debuted at #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list when it was published in January 2012. In addition to his work as a writer, Green had a prolific web presence, including the video project "Brotherhood," which began in 2007 as a record of Green's communication with his brother Hank. Green and his wife Sarah Urist Green, a curator, developed the "Project for Awesome," a space for YouTube users to create video content designed to gather donations for the charities and non-profit organizations of their choice.