Jeff Kinney’s global tour to promote the release of book 11 in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series (Puffin) will kick off on 1st November and will include more than 20 stops on three continents.
Kinney’s 11th title, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Double Down, is published worldwide on 1st November and his book tour will continue through to beginning of the New Year, with the exact dates and locations for the events will be announced in due course.
The tour will be launched in Washington, with major media, an appearance at the Library of Congress, and a visit to one of Kinney’s childhood elementary schools. Kinney will then touch down in the United Kingdom for two days: 3rd and 4th November, during which he will do “high profile” media and one exclusive public appearance.
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Francesca Dow, m.d. Penguin Random House Children’s, said: “Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a global phenomenon that continues to delight its fans and turn millions of kids into readers. Jeff Kinney’s enthusiasm for meeting and engaging with his fans – here in the UK and around the globe – is equally phenomenal.”
Dow added: “We’re thrilled to welcome Jeff to the UK in November, as part of his global tour, and will double down on our campaign for the eleventh book to make it the most innovative and exciting ever, reaching an even larger and wider audience.”
Jeff Kinney’s global tour to promote the release of book 11 in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series (Puffin) will kick off on 1st November and will include more than 20 stops on three continents.Author Jeff Kinney: Metro News Interview
Some interesting observations in this Metro News Q&A with Jeff Kinney.
Extracts:
There are two ways to look at my publishing career. One is that I’m a novelist churning out books, who is eight into a series; the other way is that I’m a cartoonist, just starting out. Most cartoonists have long careers: Charles Schulz drew Peanuts for 50 years.
At first I felt a lot of pressure to age Greg [flawed Wimpy Kid diarist Greg Heffley] because I was thinking of him as a literary character. With the fifth book I realised that the DNA of the character is in comics and comic book characters don’t change.
A lot of times kids, boys especially, are handed books that don’t appeal to them. When a kid opens one of my books they instinctively feel it’s not work, but fun. Adults read for pleasure, or for information, and I think kids need to feel that too.
The books are written in a font I designed, based on my handwriting. A lot of parents of dyslexic kids tell me their kids are able to read these books.
via Author Jeff Kinney: I’ve realised childhood is a universal condition | Metro News.
School Library Journal Chats with “Wimpy Kid” Creator Jeff Kinney
[Jeff Kinney] the author, illustrator, and game designer is planning an animated “Wimpy Kid” television movie based on Cabin Fever, the sixth book in the series, with some additional new material; it will air late in 2014. He is also working on building a community space—and possibly an independent bookstore—with his wife in Plainville, MA, where they live. And he is looking forward to the potential for more fundraising appearances featuring his Drawn Together partners: cartoonists Dav Pilkey (“Captain Underpants”), Lincoln Peirce (“Big Nate”), and Stephan Pastis (“Timmy Failure”).
Amidst this whirlwind of activity, School Library Journal also got lucky—we were able to catch up with Kinney for a quick chat about the new book, his creative process, his experience in Moore, and some of the exciting new projects he’s got on the horizon.
I’m working on an animated holiday special, which will hopefully be out next year. It’s going to be a televised special. It loosely follows along with Cabin Fever, which is the sixth book, but it departs and it follows its own beat, I guess you could say. It will have new material.
How will that differ from the live-action films?
I think that it’s going to feel more closely related to the books for a few reasons. One is that it’s going to look more like the books, and you won’t have to make the translation in your mind from a live actor to Greg Heffley in the books, and also I wrote the special, so it will have more of my voice in it.
via Hard Luck and Big Dreams: SLJ Chats with “Wimpy Kid” Creator Jeff Kinney | School Library Journal.
New Lime-Green Wimpy Kid cover revealed
Puffin has released the cover and title of the eighth Diary of a Wimpy Kid book by Jeff Kinney.
The book will be called Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, and feature a distinctive lime green cover.
Puffin will undertake its largest-ever print run for the book when it is released on 6th November 2013, with 800,000 copies being printed.