Helen fielding author biography essay

English novelist and screenwriter

For the chemist, see Helen H. Fielding.

Helen Fielding^[2] (born 19 February 1958)^[3] is a British journalist, novelist and screenwriter, best known as the creator of the fictional character Bridget Jones.

Fielding’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 the success of Bridget Jones to tapping into the gap between how we all feel we are expected to be and how we really are.^[4]

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 J