Penguin Young Readers Group will publish a memoir entitled This Star Won’t Go Out: The Life & Words of Esther Grace Earl. The book will posthumously publish journal entries, fiction pieces, personal letters and sketches written by a fan of young-adult author John Green.
Green dedicated The Fault in Our Stars to her and will write an introduction to Earl’s book. Her family and friends will also contribute photos and essays. In a blog post, Green shared her story:
I am so glad that I knew Esther, and that she was a nerdfighter, and that through Esther’s family and This Star Won’t Go Out we can still decrease suck with her. But I am also really pissed off that she died … Esther inspired the story in the sense that I was very angry after her death and wrote constantly, with a focus and passion I hadn’t known since I was rewriting Looking for Alaska in 2003. And Esther helped me to imagine teenagers as more empathetic than I’d given them credit for. And her charm and snark inspired the novel, as did her idea of incorporating an author she liked into her Wish.
The book will be released in January 2014. Writers House agent Jodi Reamer negotiated the deal for world rights with Dutton Children’s Books publisher Julie Strauss-Gabel. The publisher will work closely with Esther’s parents, Wayne and Lori Earl, to develop this work. Here’s more from the release:
Esther was tirelessly devoted to helping others. In celebration of THIS STAR WON’T GO OUT and the Earl family’s efforts to support the families of cancer patients in financial need, Penguin Young Readers Group will be making a donation to This Star Won’t Go Out (tswgo.org), the foundation named in Esther’s memory and the inspiration for the title of the book. The purpose of the This Star Won’t Go Out Foundation is to financially assist families struggling through the journey of a child living with cancer.