Jeff was born in Fort Washington, Maryland, USA. There is Maryland - in red, below, so he is an East Coast boy.
He's not even 40 yet, which means he's actually really super young and not yet over that hill (soon enough, my pretty).
When he's not writing books, Jeff works as an online game creator - he created the kid-friendly website Poptropica.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid was actually first published online at funbrain.com. He began uploading pages in 2004 and these astonishing 1,300 pages have had over 70 million viewers to date.
It took Jeff around nine years from initial concept to publication of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
The Wimpy Kid series has sold close to 16 million copies world-wide. Sigh.
Jeff's first ever cartoon strip was published in his college newspaper. It was called Igdoof.
Jeff says he had a pretty ordinary childhood but lots of funny stuff happened along the way - the perfect fodder for his books. He really wanted to write a book that made people laugh.
There were 5 books planned in the Wimpy Kid series, but Jeff would like to do more. Hurrah!
Jeff describes himself as a 'gag writer'.
Jeff deliberately avoids putting pop culture references into his stories because he wants them to have a timeless feel.
Jeff says he is a slow illustrator - and that one book needs as many as 1000 pictures, which can be a time-consuming process.
Jeff's wife's name is Julie. Hi, Julie!
The author has had many rejection slips - when he applied to become a cartoonist, he sent out stacks of cartoon strips, only to be sent "horrible, anonymous rejection letters". There's hope for us all.
Jeff was inspired to write his first book by a quote from Benjamin Franklin - "Well done, is better than well said" - in other words, stop talking about it - just do it! (Love that mantra.)
Jeff expected the first draft of Wimpy Kid to take him six months. It took him four years.
Believe it nor not, Wimpy Kid was not originally targeted at children.
Do you know some fun facts about Jeff Kinney? Leave a comment!
15 comments:
i love wimpy kid books
i have just gone out and bought all of the books because i loved them soooooooooo much!!!
you are a great writer!! please could you write some more!!
My 11=yr old son Matthew, who doesn't gererally enjoy reading, will finish one of your books in one day! I'm his 50 yr old mom, and even I enjoy your books. I hope you keep on writing for all of us!
You rock
Who me? Why - thank you! x
I love Diary of a wimpy kid i have all of them
i love all the books im writing a report on my favorite aurthor right now so this site helped alot!! thanks....
i love diary of a wimpy kid books and iam writing a report on him right now
I love diary of a wimpy kid books so much that I read all 5 series. Thank you for the books jeff their great and ill go and try out your game.
are you ever ganna make anymore books and are do you have a ps3. If you are gonna get one then add wonderful waffle as your freind no spaces.
Jeff Kinney is great
never stop reading
READING ROCKS
Thanks for all the comments, everyone!
Just a reminder that this is not Jeff Kinney's site - you need to go to his website if you want to send him a message or ask him about his books. We just wrote a Fun Facts article on him and are not associated with him at all.
Happy reading!
I LUV his books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They r so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
i luv reading
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