Young adult literature gained a distinctively irreverent voice with the release of the breakout novel Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Jesse Andrews transitioned from debut novelist to acclaimed screenwriter by pairing razor-sharp humor with candid explorations of adolescence, music, and grief across fiction and film.
Career & Background
Born on September 15, 1982, and raised in a Jewish family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Andrews attended Schenley High School, where he learned jazz, before earning a degree in history of art and architecture from Harvard University in 2004. Prior to establishing his writing career, he worked as a musician and a German youth hostel receptionist. His literary career took off with his debut young adult novel, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, published by Amulet Books in 2012. The book became a New York Times bestseller, and Andrews adapted his own novel into the feature film Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, produced by Indian Paintbrush and Fox Searchlight and directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. Released in 2015, the film adaptation won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
Following his debut success, Andrews published his second novel, The Haters, with Amulet Books in 2016, drawing on his musical background to tell the story of teenage bandmates on an improvised road trip. In 2018, he released his third novel, Munmun, also through Amulet Books. Alongside his prose fiction, Andrews expanded his screenwriting career, writing the screenplay for MGM's 2018 feature film Every Day, directed by Michael Sucsy and adapted from David Levithan's novel. He co-wrote the screenplay for Pixar's animated feature film Luca, released in 2021 and directed by Enrico Casarosa with co-writer Mike Jones, and has contributed to screenplays for Pixar projects such as Hoppers. Today, Andrews lives in the Bay Area of California.
Writing Style & Themes
Andrews is known for an unvarnished, comedy-infused approach to young adult fiction that eschews sentimental tropes. His characters often grapple with heavy life events—such as terminal illness, artistic self-doubt, or structural social inequality—using self-deprecating humor, awkward dialogue, and meta-narrative commentary. Across novels like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and The Haters, Andrews explores adolescent friendships, creative obsession, and the messy reality of coming of age.
Major Works
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl — Published by Amulet Books in 2012, this New York Times best-selling debut novel follows a film-obsessed high school senior who reconnects with a classmate diagnosed with leukemia. Andrews adapted his novel into the 2015 feature film directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon for Indian Paintbrush and Fox Searchlight, winning both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
- The Haters — Published by Amulet Books in 2016, this novel follows two teenage jazz-camp musicians who quit camp and embark on a chaotic summer road trip tour, incorporating Andrews's background in music into a story about artistic friendship.
- Munmun — Published by Amulet Books in 2018, this speculative young adult novel presents a satire of socioeconomic inequality set in an alternate reality where a person's physical size is directly proportional to their wealth.
- Every Day — Released by MGM in 2018 and directed by Michael Sucsy, this romantic fantasy feature film was scripted by Andrews based on David Levithan's novel.
- Luca — Released by Pixar in 2021 and directed by Enrico Casarosa, this animated feature film was co-written by Andrews alongside Mike Jones.
