Charles Kochman is the editorial director of Abrams ComicArts and editor of the #1 bestselling series Diary Of A Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. Kochman has edited several hundred books for all age groups, including picture books; middle-grade novels; retrospectives; definitive monographs; award-winning graphic novels and collections. Prior to Abrams, Kochman spent twelve years as the first editor of licensed publishing at DC Comics and MAD Magazine, where he launched the MAD Books imprint and edited the company’s first New York Times bestseller, The Death and Life of Superman. Kochman started his career in 1985 at PlayValue books, an imprint of G.P. Putnam’s Sons, and in 1987 became an editor at Bantam Books, where he edited the Choose Your Own Adventure series and the first middle-grade Star Wars publishing program. A graduate of Brooklyn College with a BA in children’s literature, Kochman is a member of the National Cartoonists Society and the Society of Illustrators and is on the board of advisors for the San Diego Comic-Con’s Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing, the Spectrum Art Annual, and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA).
