E. L. James company Stampin’ Up! UK and the cards were auctioned on eBay during May 2014. 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
E. L. James University of Kent in South East England where she studied History. After leaving university, James became a studio manager’s assistant at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield. She married Niall Leonard, a screenwriter, in 1987, and they have two teenage sons. As of 2012, they reside in Brentford, west London. 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