William P. Young

William P. Young

William “Paul” Young is the author of the book The Shack. Born in Alberta, Canada to missionary parents, he holds an undergraduate degree in Religion from Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon. Young currently resides in Happy Valley, Oregon with his wife, Kim. Young has six children ages 16-29, two daughters-in-law and 3 grandchildren.

Young had written primarily as a way to create unique gifts for friends, until his wife repeatedly urged him to write something for their 6 children in order to put down in one place his perspectives on God and on the inner healing Young had experienced as an adult. The resulting manuscript (which later became The Shack), was intended only for his 6 kids and for a handful of close friends.

Young initially printed just fifteen copies of his book. Two of his close friend encouraged him to have it published and assisted with some editing and rewriting in order to prepare the manuscript for publication. Rejected by 26 publishers, Young and his friends published the book under the name of their newly created publishing company, Windblown Media in 2007. The company spent only $300 in advertising; word-of-mouth referrals eventually drove the book to number one on the New York Times trade paperback fiction best-seller list in June 2008. The Shack was the top-selling fiction and audio book of 2008 in America through November 30.

According to Young:

The Shack was a story written for my six children, with no thought or intention to publish. It is as much a surprise to me as to anyone else that I am now an ‘author’. Overall, I am a very simple guy; I have one wife, six kids, two daughter-in-laws and two grandkids on the way. I work as a general manager, janitor and inside sales guy for a friend who owns a small manufacturers rep company in Milwaukie, Oregon, and I live in a small rented house in Gresham, Oregon, that Kim has made into a marvelous home. My time is spent loving the people that are a part of my life.  I am surrounded by people of faith and we have incredible friends;  now you are one of those. Oh yeah… and I wrote this book.

Visit The Shack website – theshackbook.com

Visit William Young’s Website – www.windrumors.com