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Stephen King was born in Maine in 1947 and began writing at a young age. He struggled financially until his novel Carrie was published in 1974. King battled addiction but has been sober since the late 1980s. He is known for his horror novels and has had many books adapted into films. King also wrote under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. He is a popular icon and frequently referenced in popular culture.
Stephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947 in Portland, Maine, which later became the setting for most of his novels. King spent his childhood hanging around with his mother and adopted his older brother, often suffering severe financial hardship. Stephen King started writing stories at an early age. At the age of ten he started writing science fiction stories based on famous movie characters and selling the stories to his classmates. Two years later, when his brother started his own “garage-paper” called Dave’s Rag, King became a regular contributor.
In 1971, Stephen King graduated from the University of Maine with a Bachelor of Arts in English and became a high school teacher. That same year, he married aspiring writer Tabitha Spruce, with whom he shared a trailer outside the city. The Kings fell on hard times, barely making it unless the author was able to sell a short story to a magazine. Within a few years, King began several novels which he eventually abandoned, until his wife pressured him to finish Carrie and submit it to a New York publisher. The novel sold for just US$2,500 (USD), but another major publisher bought the rights to the paperback shortly thereafter for US$400,000.
While publishing success remained with Stephen King, his private life deteriorated. He became seriously addicted to alcohol, cocaine and prescription drugs. In his memoir, On Writing, King admits that he barely remembers writing any of his early novels because he was so drunk at the time. Nearly ten years later, his family staged an intervention and forced him to seek help. King has been sober since the late 1980s.
Stephen King has become known as the master of horror. Many of his best-known books have been made into films, including Salem’s Lot, The Shining, The Green Mile, and It. In addition to his many best-selling novels and short story collections, King has co-written books with other authors, including the popular Black House with Peter Straub. In the early 1980s he published four non-horror novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Fans eventually took notice of similar literary styles and forced King to issue a statement in which he claimed Bachman had died of “pen name cancer.”
Stephen King is one of the few writers in the world to become a popular icon. He is instantly recognized and is frequently referenced in television shows such as Family Guy, Futurama, The Simpsons and Friends.
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