Orange County Library System welcomes New York Times bestselling author John Green back to Orlando on January 24! We will be exploring his literary journey, inspirations, and creative process through an engaging conversation moderated by Clarissa Moon.
An Orlando local, Clarissa Moon is an actor, singer, improviser, violinist, and theater journalist. She has performed professionally throughout Central Florida for over a decade and has worked as a theater journalist since 2016. Her work has been featured in publications such as the Orlando Sentinel, Broadway World Orlando, Orlando Weekly, and WMFE 90.7 News.
When asked what inspired her to moderate this event, Clarissa expressed how much John Green and his writing meant to her. Learn more about Clarissa and her connection with John Green through her interview below. If you would like to learn more about this event and purchase tickets, please visit ocls.org/johngreen
“The first time I heard about John Green, I was working in my middle school’s library. I absolutely loved it there. I loved the quiet, the gentle beep of the barcode scanner, and afternoons wandering the stacks alone. Most of all, though, I loved the responsibility. As a tween, I wanted nothing more than to be as adultlike as possible and being a library assistant was pretty much the closest I could get to having a real job.
Only two or so special students got to be library assistants each period, and the girl I was paired with ROCKED. She was everything I wanted to be–beautiful, smart, and a rebel. I don’t remember her name, but in my memory, she was my very own Alaska Young. Over the course of the school year, Alaska and I spent hours talking as we sat at the library’s front desk. Alaska told me of her adventures, and I hung on to her every word.
One day, we got a new shipment of books in, including a few by John Green. Alaska insisted I read them and that I should start with “The Fault in Our Stars.” I was immediately pulled in by the writing and finished it within a few days.
Months later, I was scrolling on social media and came across an image of John with marshmallows stuffed in his mouth. One commenter noted, “I can’t believe this is the guy who wrote ‘The Fault in Our Stars.’” Curious, I reverse-searched the image and found it was from the YouTube channel vlogbrothers, where John has been making videos with his brother Hank since 2007.
Over the course of the next year, I read nearly all the rest of John’s books and watched almost the entire backlog of vlogbrothers videos. On vlogbrothers, I found discussions of Hank and John’s niche interests, advice videos, and explanations of current events and world problems. On vlogbrothers, I found somewhere I belonged. When I watched Hank and John’s videos, it didn’t matter that I was a 13-year-old kid. I was an intelligent human being capable of understanding complex ideas. I could create change. I could be anything.
It was a vlogbrothers video that gave me the confidence to try writing fiction. It was vlogbrothers videos that inspired me to start creating videos of my own. In their videos, Hank and John are big on giving yourself permission to fail. They encourage viewers to just start doing the thing, and you’ll figure out how to make it better from there.
So I did. I eventually learned that I liked writing other people’s stories more than I liked writing fiction, and I liked filming video interviews more than I liked vlogging. So I pursued a degree in journalism and created my own video interview series. I got better. I got good.
Good enough, in fact, that when the Orange County Library System needed someone to moderate an evening with John Green, they asked me.
All of this because of a good book recommendation.
It’s amazing the stories that start in a library.”
