Fans
are
mourning
the
loss
of
a
legendary
author.
L.J.
Smith,
who
wrote
The
Vampire
Diaries
novels,
died
on
March
8
after
a
decade-long
battle
with
a
rare
autoimmune
disease,
her
partner
Julie
Divola
and
her
sister
Judy
Clifford
told
The
New
York
Times.
She
was
66.
“Lisa
was
a
kind
and
gentle
soul,
whose
brilliance,
creativity,
resilience
and
empathy,
illuminated
the
lives
of
her
family,
friends
and
fans
alike,”
a
statement
on
her
website
read.
“She
will
be
remembered
for
her
imaginative
spirit,
her
pioneering
role
in
supernatural
fiction,
and
her
generosity,
warmth
and
heart,
both
on
and
off
the
page.”
Growing
up
in
Southern
California,
L.J.
(real
name
Lisa
Jane
Smith)
had
dreams
of
becoming
a
writer
as
a
young
child
after
a
teacher,
per
her
website,
“praised
a
horrible
poem
I’d
written.”
Years
later,
she
began
working
on
her
first
fantasy
novel
The
Night
of
the
Solstice,
labelled
for
readers
ages
8
to
12,
while
in
high
school.
And
as
she
continued
to
pour
glimpses
of
her
vivid
imagination
onto
the
page,
she
quickly
gained
a
cult
following
when
her
vampiric
series
was
adapted
into
a
hit
television
show
in
2009,
starring
Ian
Somerhalder,
Nina
Dobrev
and
Paul
Wesley,
among
others.
Gossip
