“I was struck by an awful thought, the kind that cannot be taken back once it escapes into the open air of consciousness; it seemed to me that this was not a place you go to live. It was a place you go to die.”

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.