The American author and game designer Jeff Kinney married his wife Julie in 1998. They have two sons together named Will and Grant and the family now live in Plainville, Massachusetts. Kinney is most famously known as the writer of the popular fiction series ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’.
Although Kinney now lives in Massachusetts, he has spent most of his life in Maryland. He was born in Fort Washington on 19 February 1971 and attended Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville. Kinney then went on to attend the University of Maryland at College Park in the early part of the 1990s.
It was when he attended the University of Maryland that Kinney came to the realisation that he wanted to be a cartoonist.
In the same year that he got married - 1998 - Kinney started to write down his first ideas for the ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ series. The main character of the ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ series is Greg Heffley. Kinney writes the series in the form of Greg’s diary - a combination of hand written notes and cartoon drawings of his day-to-day life. From his initial idea, Kinney worked on developing the stories for six years before it was first featured in daily instalments on the website FunBrain in 2004. The first book in the series was then published in 2007. To date 5 books have been released and there are 42 million copies in print worldwide.
Kinney says that his own childhood was the inspiration for the series. He wanted to write a book that was loosely based on his own experiences and events that had happened to him and his family. Aside from his writing and drawing commitments, Kinney has a full-time job as the design director of an internet publishing company based in Boston.
Although Kinney now lives in Massachusetts, he has spent most of his life in Maryland. He was born in Fort Washington on 19 February 1971 and attended Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville. Kinney then went on to attend the University of Maryland at College Park in the early part of the 1990s.
It was when he attended the University of Maryland that Kinney came to the realisation that he wanted to be a cartoonist.
In the same year that he got married - 1998 - Kinney started to write down his first ideas for the ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ series. The main character of the ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ series is Greg Heffley. Kinney writes the series in the form of Greg’s diary - a combination of hand written notes and cartoon drawings of his day-to-day life. From his initial idea, Kinney worked on developing the stories for six years before it was first featured in daily instalments on the website FunBrain in 2004. The first book in the series was then published in 2007. To date 5 books have been released and there are 42 million copies in print worldwide.
Kinney says that his own childhood was the inspiration for the series. He wanted to write a book that was loosely based on his own experiences and events that had happened to him and his family. Aside from his writing and drawing commitments, Kinney has a full-time job as the design director of an internet publishing company based in Boston.
