English novelist Sue Townsend has died, it has been confirmed.
Born in April 1946 the novelist is most famed for her Adrian Mole series of novels.
A friend of her family confirmed the death in the early hours of Friday morning.
Ms Townsend, who lost her sight after complications from diabetes, died at home on Thursday after a short illness.
Townsend's Adrian Mole books have sold more than eight million copies.
The latest edition, Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years, was released in 2009 and found Adrian aged 39 1/4 and forced to move next door to his parents.
Tributes have poured in to the Leicester born playwright with Actor Stephen Mangan, who played Adrian Mole in a 2001 BBC series, posting: "Greatly upset to hear that Sue Townsend has died.
"One of the warmest, funniest and wisest people I ever met."
