Biography Jeff Kinney is the best-selling author and illustrator of the wildly popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, featuring the everyday life of the very relatable adolescent Greg Heffley. Kinney spent his childhood in the Washington, D.C. area and later moved to New England. As a young reader, Kinney was inspired by the books of Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, and J.R.R. Tolkien. While a.