EL James's inner goddess may well be doing the merengue after her slice of erotica, Fifty Shades of Grey, beat novels by Kate Mosse and Victoria Hislop to be named the popular fiction book of the year at the UK's National Book awards on Tuesday night.
Voted for by over 750 book industry experts, the prize is intended to reward "an adult book of commercial fiction from a UK author, which has made a massive impact; a success in all bookselling outlets, a book that may have exceeded expectations, a bestseller". James's erotic novel, which follows the increasingly dark sexual adventures of innocent student Anastasia Steele, saw off Mosse's Citadel, Bernard Cornwell's 1356, Hislop's The Thread, JoJo Moyes's Me Before You and Dorothy Koomson's The Rose Petal Beach to win the prize, joining former winners of the award Dawn French and David Nicholls.
"The award recognises the massive impact Fifty Shades of Grey has made this year; the blockbusting title undoubtedly whipped up quite a stir from the publishing industry, media and consumers alike," said the prize's organisers. It follows the surprise announcement from US book trade bible Publishers Weekly earlier this week that James had been chosen as its publishing person of the year.
At the National Book awards – described as "the Oscars of the literary world" by Dame Mary Perkins, founder of Specsavers which sponsors the awards – Clare Balding beat Salman Rushdie to win biography of the year for her autobiography My Animals and Other Family, Ian Rankin was presented with an outstanding achievement award, and Hilary Mantel took the Waterstones UK Author of the Year prize for Bring Up the Bodies.
The public can now vote for their book of the year from the winners of all 10 categories, with the ultimate award to be announced on 26 December.
"These awards rightly celebrate the books people are actually buying, reading and loving. The shortlist serves as the perfect Christmas gift guide," said awards producer Cactus TV's Amanda Ross.
The category winners in full
Autobiography/Biography of the Year
My Animals and Other Family by Clare Balding (Viking Adult)
Specsavers Popular Fiction Book of the Year
Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James (Arrow)
Crime Book of the Year available on iBookstore
A Wanted Man by Lee Child (Bantam Press)
Outstanding Achievement award
Ian Rankin
WH Smith Food & Drink Book of the Year
The Hairy Dieters by Si King & Dave Myers (Weidenfeld & Nicholson)
International Author of the Year in partnership with Google Play™
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey (Headline Review)
Magic FM Non-fiction Book of the Year
Is It Just Me by Miranda Hart (Hodder and Stoughton)
Waterstones UK Author of the Year
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (4th Estate)
National Book Tokens Children's Book of the Year
Ratburger by David Walliams (HarperCollins Children's)
Audible.co.uk Audiobook of the Year
The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend, read by Caroline Quentin (Whole Story Audiobooks)
New Writer of the Year
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (Doubleday)
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