diff --git a/jupyter-kernel-manager.el b/jupyter-kernel-manager.el
index 6a841c2..9cf81e9 100644
--- a/jupyter-kernel-manager.el
+++ b/jupyter-kernel-manager.el
@@ -192,6 +192,8 @@ kernel. Starting a kernel involves the following steps:
              (conn-file (make-temp-file "emacs-kernel-" nil ".json")))
         ;; Write the connection info file
         (let ((json-encoding-pretty-print t))
+          (unless (file-directory-p jupyter-runtime-directory)
+            (make-directory jupyter-runtime-directory 'parents))
           (with-temp-file conn-file
             (insert (json-encode-plist conn-info))))
         ;; Start the process