“I like to know the places I write about. I feel like it helps me ground the novel. My novels are 'realistic novels,' but they can also be fantastical, so it's nice to have a setting that grounds them a little bit.”

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.