“I just held her hand and tried to imagine the world without us and for about one second I was a good enough person to hope she died so she would never know that I was going, too. But then I wanted more time so we could fall in love.”

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.