Jeff Kinney

Jeff Kinney is an American author and cartoonist best known for creating Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the wildly popular illustrated middle-grade series narrated by Greg Heffley, a wry, self-deprecating middle-schooler navigating the everyday humiliations of school, family, and friendship. Kinney originally developed the material as a webcomic on the site Funbrain before it was published in book form in 2007, and the series' distinctive format, handwritten-style text paired with simple stick-figure cartoons presented as Greg's actual diary, has been credited with drawing in reluctant readers by lowering the barrier between comics and prose fiction. The series has sold well over 300 million copies worldwide and been translated into dozens of languages. Kinney has extended the franchise into related series, including Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid following Greg's friend Rowley, while the core Wimpy Kid books have been adapted into a series of live-action films and, more recently, animated films released on Disney+. New readers should start with the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid book to meet Greg and his family from the beginning. Kinney also owns and operates An Unlikely Story, an independent bookstore in Massachusetts, and continues to publish new Wimpy Kid installments on a regular schedule.