Jeff Patrick Kinney was born on 19th February 1971 and grew up in Fort Washington, Maryland in the United States.

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Jeff enjoyed drawing as a child. He claims that one of his earliest drawings was of a turtle when he was three years old.

As a child, Jeff loved to read. His favourite authors included Judy Blume, J.R.R. Tolkein and Piers Anthony.

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While studying at the University of Maryland College Park, Jeff created a character named Igdoof who appeared in a comic strip in the college newspaper.

The creation of Igdoof led Jeff to decide that he wanted to become a newspaper cartoonist.

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Jeff started to keep a journal. He liked the way the journal told a story which gave him the idea of writing the Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

The Wimpy Kid cartoons were initially published online on a website called funbrain.com.

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The online serialised version of a Wimpy Kid is still a huge hit. Over 80 million people visit the site every day.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid was not published in book format until spring 2007. This was six years after Kinney came up with the idea.

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On its release, Diary of a Wimpy Kid made it onto the New York Times bestseller lists.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid has over 1000 illustrations in it.

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In 2010 20th Century Fox adapted Diary of a Wimpy Kid into a film.

20th Century Fox has also made Roderick Rules (2011), Dog Days (2012) and the Long Haul (2017) from the Wimpy Kid series.

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To date, Jeff Kinney has written twelve books in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

In 2009 Jeff won the prestigious Dorothy Cranfield Fisher Children’s Book Award.

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Time Magazine named Jeff Kinney as one of the world’s most influential people in 2009.

Since their publication, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books have sold over 150 million copies worldwide.

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Jeff also works as an online games developer and is responsible for the creation of the famous children’s website Poptropica.com.

Jeff currently lives in Massachusetts with his wife Julie and their two sons, Will and Grant.

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In his spare time Jeff is a Cub Scout leader and likes to play volleyball.

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