William Paul Young is a Canadian author of Christian fiction.
Young was born in Alberta, Canada, but spent much of his early childhood in New Guinea (West Papua) with his missionary parents and three younger siblings. The family moved back to Canada while Young was in school, and he attended thirteen different schools before graduating. In recent years, Young has been open about the struggles he has dealt with as a TCK (Third Culture Kid) and survivor of childhood sexual abuse.
Young attended bible college, and later received a BA in Religion from Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon. Young married Kim Warren and held a number of jobs in early adulthood including working for a church and owning businesses in insurance, construction, and more. The couple had six children, and Christianity played a large role in the family. Young wrote The Shack, his first novel, as a gift for his children.
Friends encouraged Young to get The Shack published, and after it was turned down by dozens of publishers, Young and three friends founded Windblown Media to publish the book. The book, published in 2007, was incredibly successful, and Young has since written three more books about Christianity: Cross Roads (2012), Eve (2015), and Lies We Believe About God (2017). Young has been praised for his novels, but also named a heretic by many Christian leaders for his portrayal of the trinity and scorn for religious institutions.
Young currently lives in Happy Valley, Oregon with his wife.
The Shack is a work of Christian fiction published by William Paul Young in 2007. The novel tells the story of Mack, a man whose daughter has been abducted by a serial killer, meeting God face to face and spending a weekend in a shack in the woods...
