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Lj Smith, the author whose bestselling Vampire Diaries novels were adapted into a hit TV show, has died aged 66.

The New York Times reports that the bestselling author died on March 8 in Walnut Creek, Calif, after suffering effects of a rare autoimmune disease for a decade.

A statement on Smith’s website said: “Lisa was a kind and gentle soul, whose brilliance, creativity, resilience and empathy, illuminated the lives of her family, friends and fans alike.

“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.”

(Lisa Jane) Smith published the original four-book series, about two vampire brothers and an orphaned young woman, in 1991 and 1992, before they were turned into a hit TV show that debuted in 2009. She wrote another trilogy in 2009-11.

BBC News reports that in 2011 Smith was dropped by her publishers,...

L.J. Smith, the writer of “The Vampire Diaries” books that were adapted into a television series on The CW, died March 8 at the age of 66.

Smith’s partner, Julie Divola, and sister, Judy Clifford, confirmed the death to The New York Times. Smith had a long bout with an autoimmune disease and died in Walnut Creek, Calif.

Smith was born Sept. 4, 1958, as Lisa Jane Smith, in Florida and grew up in California. She studied experimental psychology at University of California, Santa Barbara and initially worked as a special education and kindergarten teacher.

The first novel Smith published was “The Night of the Solstice,” a fantasy book that she had begun as a high school student. It led to a deal with Alloy Entertainment to write “The Vampire Diaries.” The series started off with three books published in 1991, followed by the fourth in 1992.

The TV adaptation debuted in 2009 and continued until...

The Vampire Diaries fans have likely invested countless hours with Elena together with Stefan and Damon. L. J. Smith’s books went on to achieve huge television success and young adult literature received its framework from her creative achievements. But the extent of her work goes beyond The Vampire Diaries series.

Smith was a gifted writer. Born in 1958, she created stories filled with romance, magic, and shadows. Noveks like Night World and The Secret Circle prove her talent. However, the author sadly passed away on March 8, 2025, at 66, leaving a void in the world of fantasy creations.

L. J. Smith | via theljsmith.com

Her accomplishments go beyond her work on The Vampire Diaries. Through direct links or indirect connections, her creations appear in three other TV productions. Let’s explore some shows other than The Vampire Diaries, tied to Smith’s imagination.

1. The Originals

The Originals premiered on The CW network...

Bestselling author L.J. Smith passed away at 66. The author was famous for the Vampire Diaries novel series, which has been adapted into a TV series.

Smith, whose full name was Lisa Jane Smith, passed away on Saturday, March. 8. Her death was confirmed on her official website. Her partner, Julie Divola, laster shared the sad news with The New York Times. She revealed that Smith died in a hospital after struggling with the long-term symptoms of a rare autoimmune disease over the past decade.

The author was born on Sept. 4, 1958, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but shortly after, her family moved to California, where she grew up. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and later attended San Francisco State University for teaching credentials. She went on to teach kindergarten and worked in special education for many years before becoming a full-time writer.

L.J. Smith wrote The Vampire Diaries novels, which inspired the hit CW series of the same name. Written right before the vampire romance era, the novels were very successful, largely due to Smith’s impeccable writing. While she wrote the first seven novels across two series, she was reportedly fired and replaced by a ghostwriter for The Hunters novels.

Smith passed away at the age of 66 on March 8 and leaves behind a sparkling legacy. She wrote about vampires right before the Twilight era and expanded on young adults’ obsession with the genre. The resulting show was also hugely influential on teen dramas as a whole. Sadly, Smith might not be the owner of her own creation.

L.J. Smith’s The Vampire Diaries was adapted by the CW, but she did not get her due A still from The Vampire Diaries | Credits: The CW

The CW’s The Vampire Diaries...

L.J. Smith, the author of the famous novel The Vampire Diaries, died at the age of 66 on March 8, 2025, in Walnut Creek. Smith was suffering from a rare autoimmune disease for over a decade, which eventually took her life. Born as Lisa Jane Smith on September 4, 1958, the author was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis to model her pen name as L.J. Smith.

A still from The Vampire Diaries | Credit: CW Network

Her book The Vampire Diaries was one of the most famous fantasy fiction among young adults, which was later adapted into a TV series. After earning her bachelor’s degree in experimental psychology at the University of California, she taught in a kindergarten and special education for several years before she finally chose writing as her profession. Want to learn more about the author of The Vampire Diaries? Let’s take a look.

How did L.J.

I find it impossible to believe anyone called Hobart Henley could ever be a great film director, but on the other hand, I also find it impossible to dislike a film director called Hobart Henley. It's too much fun reading his name in a credits sequence.Henley had been an actor, which seems to account for his preposterous, alliterative name, except it seems that really was his name, not a stage contrivance. He directed numerous silent films from the teens on, all of them obscure, but his late-career outpouring of a few cute pre-Codes is better remembered. Night World (1932) is enjoyable, and Roadhouse Nights (1930) is remarkable for being the only official adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest (unofficial source material for Yojimbo, A Fistful of Dollars, Last Man Standing...), only you wouldn't know it because it reached the screen as a Jimmy Durante musical. The only thing it has...

We at Mubi think that celebrating the films of 2010 should be a celebration of film viewing in 2010.  Since all film and video is "old" one way or another, we present Out of a Past, a small (re-) collection of some of our favorite of 2010's retrospective viewings.

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Always on Sunday (Ken Russell, 1965), pictured above

Always on Sunday is one of Ken Russell's early British television films, most of which were portraits of artists. It was customary for years for Russell's haters to praise these unavailable films and bemoan the director's decline into heavy-handed vulgarity. It turns out that they were half right: the TV work is excellent, and tends to be more muted than the gaudy features that followed, no doubt in part due to BBC censorship. But the critics were wrong to miss the nuances, and genius, of Russell's blockbuster marathons of bad taste and joyous camp, and...