Esther Earl, inspiration for John Green's 'Fault in Our Stars,' will have her writing released
The writings of Esther Earl, a teenage girl who died in 2010 after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer and to whom John Green鈥檚 鈥淭he Fault in Our Stars鈥� is dedicated, are being published.
A collection titled 鈥淭his Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl鈥� will be released by Dutton on Jan. 28, 2014 and Green will write a foreword for the book.
鈥淪he would have loved to be an author,鈥� Earl鈥檚 mother, Lori Earl, told .
Earl鈥檚 father, Wayne, said he was going to self-publish his daughter鈥檚 material until Green saw it. The author gave the stories, letters, and other writings to his editor.
Earl, who died when she was 16, became well-known on the Internet for her YouTube videos. Green said that he tried to write a novel about young adults who were diagnosed with cancer before meeting Earl but that the work always came out too negatively. Getting to know Earl made him see that 鈥渒ids with stage 4 cancer can be just as funny, and as normal and as afraid as any other kid,鈥� the author told USA Today.
However, Green has made it clear that his protagonist, Hazel, is very different from Earl.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want people conflating Esther with Hazel (they鈥檙e very different),鈥� he wrote on his page. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 extremely important to me that I not claim to be telling Esther鈥檚 story.鈥�
