Stephen King

Stephen King (1947- ), successful American author of horror and fantasy tales, with more than 100 million copies of his books in print.

Born in Portland, Maine, on September 21, 1947, King earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970. He wrote his first story at age 7 and sold his first piece to a magazine when he was 18. In 1973 King published his first novel, Carrie, about a telekinetic woman who wreaks deadly revenge on her high school classmates. Carrie sold four million copies and was made into a film two years later.

A prolific writer, King excels at turning ordinary situations—such as peer pressure, marital stress, or infidelity—into terror. After Carrie he produced many other successes, at one time boasting five titles on the New York Times best-seller list at the same time. His books include The Shining (1976), The Stand (1978), Misery (1987), The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1997), and Hearts in Atlantis (1999). Despite a bad road accident in the summer of 1999, he published On Writing, part autobiography and part instruction manual for aspiring writers, in 2000, and a new novel, Dreamcatcher, in 2001. Among his most recent books are the short-story collection Everything's Eventual (2002), the pulp fiction crime novel The Colorado Kid (2005), and The Dark Tower (2005), the final book of a seven-part fantasy series. Many of his novels have been made into successful films. King has also written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. In 2003 he was the recipient of the Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award at the National Book Awards.