- "Helen Fielding is one of the funniest writers in Britain and Bridget Jones is the creation of a comic genius" Nick Hornby Bridget Jones"s Diary was first published in 1996 and applauded by critics from Salman Rushdie to Jilly Cooper. It has since sold over fifteen million copies worldwide and been turned into an Academy Award-nominated film. A dazzling urban satire of modern relationships? An ironic, tragic insight into the demise of the nuclear family? Or the confused ramblings of a pissed thirtysomething singleton? In 2012 Picador celebrate our 40th anniversary. During that time we have published many prize-winning and bestselling authors including Bret Easton Ellis and Cormac McCarthy, Alice Sebold and Helen Fielding, Graham Swift and Alan Hollinghurst. Years later, Picador continue to bring readers the very best contemporary fiction, non-fiction and poetry from across the globe.