Jeff Kinney

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New York Times bestselling children's author Jeff Kinney was born in Fort Washington, Maryland, in 1971. He later attended the University of Maryland, where he produced the popular comic strip 'Igdoof'. His dream was to become a professional newspaper cartoonist, but he wasn't able to get his comic strips syndicated. While working full time as an online game developer and designer, Jeff came up with the idea for 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid'. In 2004, after many years of hard work, Jeff permitted children's educational website funbrain.com to begin serialising the 'Wimpy Kid' story. It quickly became an online sensation, receiving millions of views, and fans were soon asking for a printed version to be made available. Eight long years after Jeff first began work on 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid', he showed it to a publisher in New York City who agreed to work with him on a series of books. Jeff lives in southern Massachusetts with his wife and their two sons.

Author's Comment: Q: Did you keep a journal when you were growing up?

A: I didn't keep a journal when I was younger... But about five years ago, I started keeping a journal. The reason I started a journal was because I was wasting too much time watching television and playing video games, and I wasn't doing anything to pursue my cartooning aspirations. I thought that perhaps if I documented what I did every day, it would "shame" me into spending more time working on my cartoons. Ironically, keeping a journal was what inspired me to create this book. I liked the interplay of words and pictures in my real journal, and I thought it would be fun to create a fictional journal based on my childhood. I would recommend to any kid out there to keep a journal. Most of my friends can't remember much about their childhood at all, and they wish they could. Even if you only keep a journal for a short while, I guarantee that you'll treasure it for the rest of your life.

Nationality: American