“He was gone and did not have time to tell him what I had just now realized: that I forgave him, and that she forgave us, and that we had to forgive to survive in the labyrinth.”

American novelist and essayist of the 2000s and 2010s, best known for his YA fiction blending humor and existential themes. His work often explores adolescence, mortality, and the search for meaning, with novels like *The Fault in Our Stars* and *Paper Towns* achieving widespread acclaim.