Helen Fielding

Helen Fielding born 19 February 1958is a British journalist novelist and screenwriter best known as the creator of the fictional character Bridget Jones HerFieldings first novel was set in a refugee camp in East Africa and she started writing Bridget Jones in an anonymous column in Londons 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 Joness success to tapping into the gap between what we feel we are expected to be and what we really are Fieldings novel Bridget Joness Diary 1996 became a surprise global bestseller published in over 40 countries Fielding continued to chronicle Bridgets life in the novels Bridget Jones The Edge of Reason 1999 Bridget Joness 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 Joness Diary was named one of the ten novels that best defined the 20th century In 2024 the New York Times named Bridget Joness Diary one of the twentytwo funniest novels since Catch 22 The movies chronicling these adventures Bridget Joness Diary Bridget Jones The Edge of Reason and Bridget Joness Baby all did exceptionally well at the international box office with the most recent opening with Bridget Joness Baby breaking UK box office records Fieldings novel Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy 2013 explored Bridgets life as a widowed mother to two small children and her attempts to reenter the dating scene It occupied the number one spot on the Sunday Times bestseller list for six months In her review for the New York Times Sarah Lyall called the novel sharp and humorous and said Fielding had allowed her heroine to grow up into someone funnier and more interesting than she was before The movie Bridget Jones Mad About the Boy announced for release in 2025 will see Renee Zellweger reprising her role as Bridget Jones for the fourth time The movie will be based on Fieldings novel and original screenplay further developed by a team including writers Dan Mazer and Abi Morgan In a 2004 poll for the BBC Fielding was named the 29th most influential person in British culture In December 2016 the BBCs Womans Hour included Bridget Jones as one of the seven women who had most influenced British female culture over the last seven decades Bridget was the only woman included who was not a reallife person Fielding is currently at work on a new nonBridget novel Description above from the Wikipedia article Helen Fielding licensed under CCBYSA a complete list of contributors on Wikipedia