Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.
He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many of these were later gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
798 works Add another?
Most Editions | First Published | Most Recent
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The Shining
42 editions - first published in 1977 Checked out -
Carrie
41 editions - first published in 1974 Checked out -
The green mile
40 editions - first published in 1996 Borrow -
Misery
34 editions - first published in 1987 Borrow -
Cujo
32 editions - first published in 1981 Checked out -
The Stand
28 editions - first published in 1978 Checked out -
It
27 editions - first published in 1986 Checked out -
The Dead Zone
25 editions - first published in 1979 Checked out -
Firestarter
24 editions - first published in 1980 Borrow -
Pet sematary
22 editions - first published in 1983 Checked out -
The Dark Tower
22 editions - first published in 1982 Borrow -
Four Past Midnight
21 editions - first published in 1990 Checked out -
Danse macabre
20 editions - first published in 1980 Checked out -
The Talisman
20 editions - first published in 1984 Checked out -
Needful Things
20 editions - first published in 1991 Borrow -
'Salem's Lot
19 editions - first published in 1975 Checked out -
The girl who loved Tom Gordon
18 editions - first published in 1999 DAISY -
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
18 editions - first published in 2000 DAISY -
Dolores Claiborne
18 editions - first published in 1992 Borrow -
The dark half
18 editions - first published in 1989 Borrow -
The eyes of the dragon: a story
17 editions - first published in 1987 Checked out -
Different seasons
17 editions - first published in 1982 Checked out -
The gunslinger
16 editions - first published in 1982 -
Gerald's game
16 editions - first published in 1992 Checked out -
Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse
15 editions - first published in 1991 Borrow -
Skeleton crew
15 editions - first published in 1985 Checked out -
Christine
15 editions - first published in 1983 Borrow -
Night Shift
14 editions - first published in 1978 Checked out -
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
14 editions - first published in 1993 Checked out -
Insomnia: A novel
14 editions - first published in 1994 Checked out -
Rose Madder
14 editions - first published in 1995 Borrow -
The Tommyknockers
13 editions - first published in 1987 Checked out -
Lisey's Story: a novel
12 editions - first published in 2006 DAISY -
Hearts in Atlantis
12 editions - first published in 1999 DAISY -
Desperation
11 editions - first published in 1996 Checked out -
The drawing of the three
11 editions - first published in 1987 Borrow -
Everything's Eventual: 14 dark tales
11 editions - first published in 2002 DAISY -
Bag of bones
11 editions - first published in 1998 Borrow -
Thinner
11 editions - first published in 1985 Borrow -
Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, Book 4)
9 editions - first published in 1997 -
The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, Book 3)
9 editions - first published in 1992 Borrow -
The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1)
8 editions - first published in 1976 Checked out -
The Breathing Method
7 editions - first published in 1984 -
The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, Book 2)
7 editions - first published in 1990 Borrow -
Under the dome: a novel
7 editions - first published in 2009 DAISY -
Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
7 editions - first published in 2004 DAISY -
Duma Key: A Novel
6 editions - first published in 2008 DAISY -
The Long Walk
6 editions - first published in 1979 Borrow -
The Bachman books
6 editions - first published in 1985 Borrow -
Buick 8, Un Coche Perverso
5 editions - first published in 2002 -
UN Saco De Huesos
5 editions - first published in 1998 -
Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, Book 5)
4 editions - first published in 2003 -
The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7)
4 editions - first published in 2004 -
Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6)
4 editions - first published in 2004 -
Dark Visions
4 editions - first published in 1989 -
Bare bones: conversations on terror with Stephen King
4 editions - first published in 1988 Borrow -
Storm of the century: An Original Screenplay
4 editions - first published in 1999 -
The Colorado kid
4 editions - first published in 2005 -
The Dark Tower, Books 1-3: The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, and The Waste Lands
3 editions - first published in 1992 -
LA Milla Verde / the Green Mile: (el pasillo de la muerte) / (The death passage)
3 editions - first published in 2000 -
Carretera Maldita
3 editions - first published in 1995 -
Kudzho
3 editions - first published in 1997 -
Stephen King Mixed Prepack
3 editions - first published in 2002 -
Los Ojos Del Dragon / the Eyes of the Dragon
3 editions - first published in 1989 -
Dolan's Cadillac
3 editions - first published in 1989 -
Langoliers
3 editions - first published in 1995 -
El Misterio De Salem's Lot/Salem's Lot
3 editions - first published in 1985 -
EL UMBRAL DE LA NOCHE
3 editions - first published in 1991 -
The Body
3 editions - first published in 1994 -
Rabia
3 editions - first published in 1995 -
Juego de Gerald, El
3 editions - first published in 1995 -
Los Langoliers
3 editions - first published in 1995 -
Jessie
3 editions - first published in 1992 -
Feast of fear: conversations with Stephen King
3 editions - first published in 1989 -
LT's Theory of Pets
3 editions - first published in 2001 -
La niebla
3 editions - first published in 1987 -
Ojos De Fuego / Firestarter
3 editions - first published in 1996 -
El Resplandor/the Shining
3 editions - first published in 1982 -
Mid-life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude
3 editions - first published in 1994 -
Corazones En La Atlantida / Hearts in Atlantis
3 editions - first published in 2000 -
Blockade Billy
3 editions - first published in 2010 Read -
The Mist: In 3-D Sound
3 editions - first published in 1986 Borrow -
Quitters, Inc
3 editions - first published in 1996 -
The two dead girls
3 editions - first published in 1996 Borrow -
Coffey on the Mile
3 editions - first published in 1996 Checked out -
The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix
3 editions - first published in 1997 Borrow -
The Mouse on the Mile
3 editions - first published in 1996 Borrow -
Mrs. Todd's Shortcut
2 editions - first published in 1987 -
El Juego de Gerald
2 editions - first published in 1995 -
The things they left behind
2 editions - first published in 2006 DAISY -
La ligne verte
2 editions - first published in 1998 -
Stark. The Dark Half
2 editions - first published in 2001 -
La tour sombre. 3, Terres perdues
2 editions - first published in 1992 -
Ici et maintenant
2 editions - first published in 1992 -
Gramma
2 editions - first published in 1987 -
El retrato de Rose Madder
2 editions - first published in 2000 -
Ojos de Fuego
2 editions - first published in 1998 -
The journals of Eleanor Druse: my investigation of the Kingdom Hospital incident
2 editions - first published in 2004 -
The WaveDancer Benefit
2 editions - first published in 2002 -
The Green Mile (Read a Great Movie)
2 editions - first published in 2005
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History Created April 1, 2008 · 15 revisions
| March 9, 2013 | Edited by Lynne Gee | Added new photo |
| May 28, 2012 | Edited by 50.53.15.51 | Added new photo |
| March 10, 2012 | Edited by 198.241.2.1 | Update photos |
| January 3, 2012 | Edited by 70.74.171.141 | Edited without comment. |
| April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | initial import |