Stephen King

Author profile

born

September 21, 1947 in Portland, Maine, The United States

gender

male

website

http://www.stephenking.com/

genre

Mystery & Thrillers, Horror, Literature & Fiction

influences

Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, William Golding, Shirley Jackson, Fritz Le...more

About this author

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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

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....more Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

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.(less)

85 posts
Stephen King's Blog

Stephen King isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but he does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from his feed.

Stephen to Speak at UMass Lowell

Stephen will make a live appearance on December 7th at the Tsongas Centerat UMass Lowell.

As the first guest in the Chancellor’s Speaker Series, Stephen will read from his work, talk about writing and hold a Q&A session with the audience. For more information, see the link below.

More Information read more »

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combine editions
Books by Stephen King

Average rating: 3.84 · 2,566,836 ratings · 86,463 reviews · 403 distinct works

	The Shining 3.91 avg rating — 271,250 ratings — published 1977 — 117 editions	My rating:
	The Stand by Stephen King, Bernie Wrightson (Illustrator) 4.28 avg rating — 119,601 ratings — published 1978 — 109 editions	My rating:
	It 3.97 avg rating — 94,593 ratings — published 1986 — 79 editions	My rating:
	Misery 3.91 avg rating — 80,570 ratings — published 1987 — 83 editions	My rating:
	The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1) 3.96 avg rating — 79,854 ratings — published 1982 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Pet Sematary 3.68 avg rating — 76,456 ratings — published 1983 — 86 editions	My rating:
	Carrie 3.71 avg rating — 74,142 ratings — published 1974 — 102 editions	My rating:
	'Salem's Lot 3.84 avg rating — 68,107 ratings — published 1975 — 102 editions	My rating:
	The Green Mile 4.30 avg rating — 49,067 ratings — published 1996 — 83 editions	My rating:
	The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2) 4.14 avg rating — 45,512 ratings — published 1987 — 74 editions	My rating:

More books by Stephen King…

Series by Stephen King

The Dark Tower (7 books)
by Stephen King

4.05 avg rating — 318,501 ratings

The Shining (2 books)
by Stephen King

3.91 avg rating — 271,251 ratings

It (4 books)
by Stephen King

3.97 avg rating — 94,532 ratings

The Talisman (2 books)
by Stephen King, Peter Straub (Goodreads Author)

3.98 avg rating — 46,670 ratings

The Green Mile (6 books)
by Stephen King

4.42 avg rating — 26,983 ratings

More series by Stephen King…

Upcoming Events

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Quotes by Stephen King

“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
― Stephen King

tags: reading , writing

3,708 people liked it

“Get busy living or get busy dying.”
― Stephen King, The Shawshank Redemption

tags: life

3,392 people liked it

“When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, "Why god? Why me?" and the thundering voice of God answered, There's just something about you that pisses me off.”
― Stephen King, Storm of the Century: An Original Screenplay

tags: god , humor , religion

3,351 people liked it

See all Stephen King's quotes »

Polls

What frequently challenged or banned book for adults should we read in August and September?

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

25 votes, 20.2%

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

18 votes, 14.5%

Carrie by Stephen King

16 votes, 12.9%

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

13 votes, 10.5%

Rabbit, Run by John Updike

12 votes, 9.7%

The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell

11 votes, 8.9%

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

8 votes, 6.5%

Native Son by Richard Wright

8 votes, 6.5%

Final Exit (Third Edition): The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying by Derek Humphry

7 votes, 5.6%

Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence

6 votes, 4.8%

124 total votes

15 comments

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Stephen King

Author profile

85 posts
Stephen King's Blog

combine editions
Books by Stephen King

Series by Stephen King

Upcoming Events

Quotes by Stephen King

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add NewVideos

Stephen's Fans (15150)

Stephen King

Author profile

85 postsStephen King's Blog

combine editionsBooks by Stephen King

Series by Stephen King

Upcoming Events

Quotes by Stephen King

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add New
Videos

85 posts
Stephen King's Blog

combine editions
Books by Stephen King