E. L. James | |
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Born | Erika Mitchell 7 March 1963 Willesden, London, England |
Pen name | E. L. James Snowqueens Icedragon |
Occupation | Author |
Education | Wycombe High School |
Alma mater | University of Kent |
Genre | Romance, erotica, fan fiction |
Years active | 2011–present |
Spouse | Niall Leonard (m. 1987) |
Children | 2 [1] |
Website | |
eljamesauthor |
Erika Mitchell (born 7 March 1963), [1] [2] known by her pen name E. L. James, is a British author. She wrote the best-selling Fifty Shades series of erotic romance novels, [3] [4] which spawned a multimedia franchise including a film trilogy of the same name. [5] Prior to this, she wrote the Twilight fan fiction "Master of the Universe" that served as the basis for the Fifty Shades series under the web name Snowqueens Icedragon. In 2019 she published her first book unconnected with the fictional world of Fifty Shades, The Mister , to negative critical reaction. [6] [7] [8]
The Fifty Shades novels have sold over 150 million copies worldwide, over 35 million copies in the United States and set the record in the United Kingdom as the fastest selling paperback of all time. [9] [10] [11] [12] In 2012, Time magazine named her one of "The World's 100 Most Influential People". [13]
Erika Mitchell was born on 7 March 1963 in Willesden, Middlesex to a Chilean mother and a Scottish father who was a BBC cameraman. [1] [14] She was brought up in Buckinghamshire. [1]
James was educated at the independent Pipers Corner School and at Wycombe High School, a state grammar school for girls in the town of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, followed by the University of Kent in South East England where she studied history. [1]
After leaving university, James became a studio manager's assistant at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield.
James says the idea for the Fifty Shades trilogy began as a response to the vampire novel series Twilight . In late 2008, James saw the movie Twilight , and then became intensely absorbed with the novels that the movie was based on. She read the novels several times over in a period of a few days and then set out to write a sequel to the books. Between January and August 2009, she wrote two such books in quick succession. She says she then discovered the phenomenon of fan fiction, and this inspired her to publish her novels as Kindle books under the pen name "Snowqueens Icedragon". Beginning in August 2009, she then began to write the Fifty Shades books. [15] [16]
James has spoken of her shock at the success of the books. "The explosion of interest has taken me completely by surprise" she said. [17] James has described the Fifty Shades trilogy as "my midlife crisis, writ large. All my fantasies in there, and that's it." [18] She did not start to write until January 2009, as she revealed while still active on FanFiction.Net: "I started writing in January 2009 after I finished the Twilight saga, and I haven't stopped since. I discovered Fan Fiction in August 2009. Since then I have written my two fics and plan on doing at least one more. After that ... who knows?" [19]
In August 2013, James topped the Forbes ' list of the highest-earning authors due to her book sales [20] with earnings of $95m which included $5m for the film rights to Fifty Shades of Grey. [21]
James married Niall Leonard, a novelist and screenwriter from Northern Ireland, in 1987. They have two sons. As of 2012, they live in Brentford, West London. [1] [15]
Year | Title | Note(s) |
---|---|---|
2015 | Fifty Shades of Grey | Producer and Cameo |
2017 | Fifty Shades Darker | Producer |
2018 | Fifty Shades Freed | Producer |
2018 | Book Club | Cameo [28] |
Stephenie Meyer is an American novelist and film producer. She is best known for writing the vampire romance series Twilight, which has sold over 160 million copies, with translations into 37 different languages. Meyer was the bestselling author of 2008 and 2009 in the U.S., having sold over 29 million books in 2008 and 26.5 million in 2009. Meyer received the 2009 Children's Book of the Year award from the British Book Awards for Breaking Dawn, the Twilight series finale.
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Maya Banks is an American bestselling author of erotic romance, romantic suspense, contemporary romance, and Scottish historical romance novels.
Kelly Marcel is a British screenwriter. She wrote the films Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), Venom (2018), its sequels Let There Be Carnage (2021) and the upcoming The Last Dance (2024). She will make her directorial debut with the latter film. She also created and served as executive producer of the television series Terra Nova (2011).
Fifty Shades of Grey is a 2011 erotic romance novel by British author E. L. James. It became the first instalment in the Fifty Shades novel series that follows the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. It contains explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of sexual practices involving BDSM.
Fifty Shades Freed is the third and final installment of the erotic romance Fifty Shades Trilogy by British author E. L. James. After accepting entrepreneur CEO Christian Grey's proposal in Fifty Shades Darker, Anastasia Steele must adjust not only to married life but to her new husband's wealthy lifestyle and controlling nature. The paperback edition was first published in April 2012.
Bared to You is a 2012 New York Times bestselling erotic new adult romance novel by veteran writer Sylvia Day, focusing on the complicated relationship between two twentysomething protagonists with equally abusive pasts. The novel was initially self-published on April 3, 2012 by Day, with Berkley Books re-publishing the book on June 12, 2012 with an initial print run of 500,000 copies. Day has stated that Bared to You will be the first novel in her Crossfire series, with the follow-up novel, Reflected in You, published in October 2012. The Crossfire series sold five million English-language copies in 2012 and international rights were licensed in thirty-eight territories as of January 2013.
Gabriel's Inferno is an erotic romance novel by an anonymous Canadian author under the pen name Sylvain Reynard. The story was first published in novel format in 2011 by Omnific Publishing, with further publishing rights to the series being purchased by Berkley Books. The work was first published on 4 September 2012, along with the second book in the series, Gabriel's Rapture.
Beautiful Bastard is a 2013 erotic romance novel by Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings under the singular pen name of Christina Lauren. The book was originally published online as a Twilight fan fiction entitled The Office, with Simon & Schuster purchasing the publishing rights to the series.
Fifty Shades is an adult erotic BDSM romance franchise created by British writer E. L. James. It originated as a fanfic for the young-adult teen romance novel series Twilight by American author Stephenie Meyer. That story was turned into a full-length novel titled Fifty Shades of Grey. It has produced a novel series with an original novel trilogy and two follow-up novels, as well as a film trilogy.
Andrew Shaffer is an American author. Under the pen name "Fanny Merkin," he authored the Fifty Shades of Grey parody Fifty Shames of Earl Grey. His other books include Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love, and Literary Rogues: A Scandalous History of Wayward Authors. He is the founder and creative director of Order of St. Nick, a greeting card company. He resides in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife, novelist Tiffany Reisz.
Fifty Shades is a series of erotic novels by British author E. L. James, initially a trilogy consisting of Fifty Shades of Grey (2011), Fifty Shades Darker (2012) and Fifty Shades Freed (2012). The series traces the deepening relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steele and young businessman Christian Grey. Christian introduces Ana to the world of BDSM.
Fifty Shades of Grey is a 2015 American erotic romantic drama film directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson from a screenplay by Kelly Marcel. The film is based on E. L. James' 2011 novel of the same name and stars Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Jennifer Ehle and Marcia Gay Harden. It is the first installment in the Fifty Shades film series. The story follows Anastasia "Ana" Steele (Johnson), a college graduate, who begins a sadomasochistic relationship with young business magnate Christian Grey (Dornan).
Fifty Shades Darker is a 2012 erotic romance novel by British author E. L. James. It is the second installment in the Fifty Shades trilogy that traces the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. The first and third volumes, Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Freed, were published in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The novel is published by Vintage Books and reached No. 1 on the USA Today best seller list.
Fifty Shades Freed is a 2018 American erotic romantic drama film directed by James Foley and written by Niall Leonard, and based on E. L. James's 2012 novel of the same name. It is the third and final installment in the Fifty Shades film series, following Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) and Fifty Shades Darker (2017). The film stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan as Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, respectively, and follows the couple as they marry, and must deal with Ana's former boss, who begins to stalk them.
Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey As Told by Christian, also referred to as Grey, is a 2015 erotic romance by British author E. L. James. It is the fourth installment in the Fifty Shades series, which had its start as fanfiction.
Fifty Shades is a British-American film trilogy series based on the Fifty Shades trilogy by English author E. L. James. It is distributed by Universal Studios, and stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan as the lead roles Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, respectively. Sam Taylor-Johnson directed the first film, and James Foley directed the second and third films.
Darker: Fifty Shades Darker As Told by Christian, also referred to as Darker, is a 2017 erotic romance by British author, E. L. James. It is the fifth installment in the Fifty Shades novel series. The books were originally told by Anastasia Steele, the main protagonist, whereas Darker: Fifty Shades Darker as Told by Christian is told from the male character's point of view of the events of the second installment, Fifty Shades Darker.
The Mister is a 2019 romance novel by E. L. James.
Tiffany Reisz is an American author. She is best known for the Original Sinners series of erotica and she has won the RITA Award and a Lambda Literary Award.