Writing

Helen Fielding

Helen Fielding (born 19 February 1958)is a British journalist, novelist, and screenwriter best known as the creator of the fictional character Bridget Jones. HerFielding's first novel was set in a refugee camp in East Africa, and she started writing Bridget Jones in an anonymous column in London's Independent newspaper. This turned into an unexpected hit, leading to four Bridget Jones novels and three movies, with a fourth movie announced in April 2024 for release in 2025. Fielding credits Bridget Jones's success to tapping into the gap between what we feel we are expected to be and what we really are. Fielding's novel Bridget Jones's Diary (1996) became a surprise global bestseller, published in over 40 countries. Fielding continued to chronicle Bridget's life in the novels Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (1999), Bridget Jones's Baby: The Diaries (2017) and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (2013), all of which became international bestsellers. In a survey by The Guardian, Bridget Jones's Diary was named one of the ten novels that best defined the 20th century. In 2024, the New York Times named Bridget Jones's Diary one of the twenty-two funniest novels since Catch 22.