Ned Vizzini, the author behind young adult novels It’s Kind of a Funny Story and Be More Chill has died. He was only 32-years-old.
The Los Angeles Times reports that he died in New York City. The medical examiner confirmed that he committed suicide.
Vizzini was born in Brooklyn and started writing for New York newspapers as a teenager, reports Entertainment Weekly. In 2000, he published his first book, Teen Angst? Naaah…, a collection of essays. In 2004, his first novel, Be More Chill was published.
He started having suicidal thoughts in 2004 and spent a week at Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn. That experience lead to It’s Kind of a Funny Story, which was published in 2006. It was turned into a film in 2010 starring Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifianakis, and Emma Roberts. Last year, he published The Other Normals, a fantasy novel for teens.
This year, he began a series called House of Secrets, which he wrote in collaboration with film director Chris Columbus. The sequel, House of Secrets: Battle of the Beast, is due out in March.
Vizzini has also written TV scripts, including for the upcoming J.J. Abrams/Alfonso Cuaron NBC series Believe. He also contributed to Teen Wolf and The Last Resort.
He is survived by his wife, writer Sabra Embury, and their two-year-old son.
Devastated to report that Last Resort (and many other things) writer @ned_vizzini has passed away. He had a way of making me smile.
— Shawn Ryan (@ShawnRyanTV) December 20, 2013
image: Amazon