On Sept. 25, Oakland University gathered for a crash course on writing books, being a parent and navigating life with diseases as John Green visited campus. While not everything was tuberculosis in his presentation, Green invited the campus community to make hopeful choices together for the betterment of the world.
Green is a New York Times bestselling author, best known for his novel “The Fault in Our Stars,” which was adapted into a movie in 2014. Most students might recognize him from Crash Course, a YouTube series he co-created with his brother, Hank Green, that provides free learning videos in an entertaining and fast-paced manner.
“It’s such a privilege to have someone who resonates so much with our generation, because he’s not just a famous person for everyone, he’s a famous person for young people — and that was our biggest goal,” Student Life and Lecture Board (SLLB) Chair, Mathew Seidel, said.
The discussion was moderated by OU special lecturer in theater, Milica Govich, who also featured as Mrs. Waters in “The Fault in Our Stars” movie. She kicked off the event by asking Green about his experience on set and adapting his novel to the film industry.
“It was wonderful to be reunited with him, and what a delight, because on the set, he really was quiet, just really a delightful human being,” Govich said. “So he’s not just an awesome person, but he’s an incredibly talented writer and humanitarian and everything. So this was so fun to do.”
Green described converting his novel into a movie as a surreal experience where he cried every day. With writing being his first love, he explained how seeing his ideas materialize beyond YouTube videos was cathartic.
“I think he was very inspirational. The fact that he shifted to this nonfiction writing once he saw the situation in Sierra Leone,” Govich said. “He touches the hearts of all ages, but he had a lot of wonderful, I think, targeted things to say to the college campus community.”
Govich referred to Green’s most recent work, “Everything is Tuberclosis,” a non-fiction book focused on the tuberculosis epidemic. The book weaves together the deep history of the disease along with Green’s personal experiences while in Sierra Leone, meeting tuberculosis patients.
While not his first book touching on how illness reshapes love, family and meaning, he explained that his latest novel highlighted the health care inequities around the globe. He characterized tuberculosis as a disease of the neglected, a barometer for human injustice.
“I love this book,” Nicholas Gilpin, an infectious disease doctor and clinical faculty at OUWB, said. “I really like the way that he communicates sort of complicated ideas and condenses them and makes them very digestible.”
Now part of reading lists in high schools and colleges, Green shared anecdotes on how writing changed his life. He also talked about vulnerable moments in his life while inspiring students to remain hopeful.
“I was fortunate to be able to give a lecture to the Honors College about this book. And it was really cool to engage with young people about a fairly complicated topic,” Gilpin said. “Part of the reason that it was such a fun lecture to give was that the audience was very engaged, like they really clearly, he has just a knack for connecting with people with his words. And I just think that’s really cool.”
Later, Green explained that 1 in 7 people who ever lived have died from tuberculosis. Although it is curable today, there are still barriers – 1.25 million people died of TB in 2023. “We could live in a world without tuberculosis,” Green said. “It’s a disease of neglected people… I wanted to understand why it still happens.”
Green is now added to the list of prominent speakers who come to OU thanks to SLLB, the campus organization behind campus conversations with Bill Nye and Jimmy Carter.
“What’s really fantastic is we have talented, big-name individuals that come to our campus and share their talent and treasure with us,” Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Amy Thompson said. “It just shows that we’re an institution that really values having all kinds of different speakers on campus, and I think that the students and the faculty and the community really appreciate that.”
The room full of students, staff, faculty, alumni and community members also hosted a plethora of lifelong fans of Green. Among them was Emily Sines, an OU alumna who has followed Green’s career since 2012.
“I picked up his ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ in middle school and then, of course, got into the Vlog Brothers stuff and Crash Course throughout high school, but I think that what I like most is the way he writes nonfiction,” Sines said. “So, [in] his first nonfiction book, ‘The Anthropocene Reviewed,’ he talks about the human experience and the concept of hope. Like, he said this evening, what we owe to each other and almost a radical positivity.”
The speaker never failed to make the audience laugh as he navigated questions of identity, learning and life. Sharing anecdotes from his first couple of months after graduating from college, Green connected with student attendees and invited them to pursue their passions.
“We are not in school to get A’s but to understand why we are alive and contextualize where we are in the universe,” Green said. “Learning is an opportunity, not an obligation.”
