Best-selling young adult fiction writer Ned Vizzini, whose 2006 semi-autobiographical novel “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” won plaudits for its portrayal of teenage depression and was adapted as a Hollywood film, has died at age 32.
New York City medical examiner spokeswoman Julie Bolcer on Friday said that Vizzini had committed suicide and that his injuries were consistent with a fall from some height.
Vizzini authored four young adult novels about late bloomers and unpopular teens, including “Be More Chill” and “The Other Normals” as well as a collection of essays titled “Teen Angst? Naaah…A Quasi-Autobiography.”
“I was totally blown away by his writing,” Vizzini’s editor Alessandra Balzer of HarperCollins imprint Balzer + Bray said in a statement posted on Facebook. “It just dazzled with wit and intelligence and warmth – his was the most authentic and daring teen boy voice I’d ever read.”
Balzer added: “Ned loved to write about nerdy outsiders who were finding their way to manhood, and he did it better than anyone.”
“It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” about a teenage boy who suffers from depression and thoughts of suicide, was adapted into a 2010 film starring Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifianakis and Emma Roberts.
Earlier this year, Vizzini co-authored a children’s fantasy novel titled “House of Secrets” with “Home Alone” film director Chris Columbus that was intended to be the first in a series.
Vizzini, who grew up in New York City, also served as a writer of the short-lived ABC military drama “Last Resort” and MTV’s supernatural drama “Teen Wolf.”
He was currently working as a writer for NBC’s upcoming science fiction series “Believe,” which was created by “Gravity” director Alfonso Cuaron and produced by “Star Trek” director J.J. Abrams.
REUTERS