John Schlimm is a Harvard-trained educator, artist, advocate, and international award-winning author.
His more than two-dozen books include: What Would Gen-Z Do?: Everything You Don’t Know About Gen-Z But Should; The Star Jumped Over the Moon; the Christopher Award-winning memoir Five Years in Heaven: The Unlikely Friendship That Answered Life’s Greatest Questions; Extraordinary Dogs: Stories from Search and Rescue Dogs, Comfort Dogs, and Other Canine Heroes; Moonshine: A Celebration of America’s Original Rebel Spirit; a series of plant-based cookbooks; and a series of artist’s books. John’s forthcoming books in 2026 and 2027 include two debut Thriller/Horror novels and two debut Thriller/Horror novellas.
John is also the creator of such multimedia Participatory/Interactive and Public Art projects as THE SMILE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD (is yours), as well as The Gen-Z Time Capsule in collab with The Andy Warhol Museum; THE SMILE COIN (Ed. of 4,000), The 988 Coin (Ed. of 30,000), The U.S. Flag Coin (Ed. of 30,000), and The Pillars: A Monument Honoring Our Local Carbon & Powdered Metal Industries in collab with St. Marys Area High School’s Dutch Manufacturing students and Community Education Center; THE BRAIN THAT CHANGED THE WORLD (is yours) in collab with Clearfield County Career and Technology Center High School and Workforce Solutions for North Central PA; and America250PA-Elk County/The United Colors of Liberty/Bells Across PA Project in collab with the Elk County Commissioners and 4,000 K-12 students.
For nearly a decade, John served as an adjunct professor of Communications and First Year Seminar at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, and has also traveled the country speaking about motivational topics, his art, Gen-Z, mental health, entertaining, and public relations, including his commencement addresses “Rise From There!” and “The Road to YES is Paved with Many Nos,” and his “Embrace Compassion, Change the World” keynote address on Capitol Hill. He has appeared on such national media outlets as The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family, Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, NPR, Martha Stewart Living’s Everyday Food, The Splendid Table, QVC, and EWTN’s The World Over.
