E. L. James E. L. James Erika Leonard (née Mitchell; born 7 March 1963), known by her pen name E. L. James, is an English author. She wrote the bestselling erotic romance trilogy "Fifty Shades of Grey", "Fifty Shades Darker", and "Fifty Shades Freed", along with the companion novels "" and ""; and under the name Snowqueen's Icedragon the Twilight fan fiction "Master of the Universe" that was the basis for the Fifty Shades trilogy. The combined novels have sold over 125 million copies worldwide, over 35 million copies in the United States and set the record in the United Kingdom as the
Fifty Shades (novel series) book in "The New York Times" as being written "like a Brontë devoid of talent," and said it was "dull and poorly written." Jesse Kornbluth of "The Huffington Post" said: "As a reading experience, "Fifty Shades"...is a sad joke, puny of plot". Princeton professor April Alliston wrote, "Though no literary masterpiece, "Fifty Shades" is more than parasitic fan fiction based on the recent "Twilight" vampire series." "Entertainment Weekly" writer Lisa Schwarzbaum gave the book a "B+" rating and praised it for being "in a class by itself." British author Jenny Colgan in "The Guardian" wrote "It is jolly, eminently readable