SAVANNAH — “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney is coming to the 2013 Savannah Book Festival.
The creator will host “Start Your Morning with Jeff Kinney” at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, in the Trustees Theater, 32 Abercorn St. This special Saturday program is presented by the Savannah Book Festival and the Children’s Book Festival/Live Oaks Public Libraries.

The sixth annual festival runs Feb. 14-17.

Kinney’s seventh book in the series, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel”, was the largest-selling hardcover book of 2012 with more than 6.5 million copies printed. More than 85 million “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books are in print in 41 languages and in more than 44 countries. The series is a fixture on the USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists.

“What fun to welcome Jeff Kinney to our Presidents Day weekend event,” festival Executive Director Robin Gold said, “especially as we add the young adult genre and expand our SBF@School program to encourage young readers. We are also pleased to be presenting this special event with The Children’s Book Festival/ Live Oaks Public Libraries.”

“Diary of a Wimpy Kid is one of the most successful children’s series ever published. If you don’t know what ‘Zoo-We-Mama’ means, it’s time to snare a Kinney book and have some laughs,” she added.

Tickets are $5 apiece and go on sale Thursday at the Trustees Theater. For information or to purchase tickets, call 912-525-5050 or go to www.savannahboxoffice.com. Any excess revenues will offset venue costs.

For more information on the festival, call 912-598-4040, email info@savannahbookfestival.org or go to www.savannahbookfestival.org.