Kinney's 13th Diary of a Wimpy Kid coming in October

Penguin Random House Children’s is publishing the 13th book in Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series on 30th October. The announcement comes as the series hits a milestone of 200m copies sold worldwide, according to the publisher.

PRH Children’s will be joined by more than 20 international publishers in simultaneously publishing and releasing Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Book 13, including in the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Turkey, Greece, Taiwan, Poland, Japan, Brazil, Spain, Catalonia, Portugal, Hungary, Romania, Sweden, Lativa, Norway, Israel, Korea, and the Czech Republic.

Puffin revealed that the middle grade series has now sold over 200 million copies worldwide. It is published in 65 editions in 56 languages in over 140 countries, which means that the books are now read in over two-thirds of the world’s countries, it said.

Francesca Dow, m.d. of Penguin Random House Children’s, called it an “extraordinary milestone” and “a very rare feat indeed for any series”. 

She added: “Jeff Kinney has brought joy and confidence to millions of kids who’ve discovered the fun of reading with Diary of a Wimpy Kid. So we couldn’t be more excited about a new book from Jeff which is always cause for celebration - hotly anticipated by children around the world.“

The title and cover of the 13th original story will be revealed on 1st May. It follows Book 12, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway, which has sold 379,794 copies since November, according to Nielsen BookScan.

Altogether the series has sold 11.2 million books for £62.8m in the UK through Nielsen BookScan.