Thanks to spikeslustylove at lion_lamb, we know that Stephenie was named Author of the Year by the USA Today.

Last year, our book of the year was J.K. Rowling’s wonderfully satisfying final Harry Potter title, Deathly Hallows. This year, we’re giving a big shout-out not to one book, but to one author — Stephenie Meyer, queen of the teen vampires.

Her four-title “Twilight” series — about a teen girl smitten with a smoldering (but honorable) teen vampire — took a huge bite out of book sales this year, and the hit movie version of Twilight confirmed Meyer’s status as a pop-culture phenomenon. Her Twilight books claimed the No. 1 spot on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list a dominating 18 times in 2008. Meyer, 34, wasn’t satisfied with making just her teen readers swoon: She also had an adult best seller with The Host, a science-fiction tale of aliens subjugating the human race. Not bad for a Mormon mom with a (chaste) taste for blood.

Picture and Source.