Biography of Stephen King

Stephen King, perhaps one of the best writers of the time, was born in Portland, Maine on September 21, 1947.  When King was a toddler his parents divorced, leaving his mother to care for himself and his older brother, David.  His mother worked various jobs in order to support the family, but she eventually ended up working at a facility for the mentally challenged.  The family moved several times, to Fort Wayne, Indiana, Stratford, Connecticut, and then back to Maine in order for King’s mother to take care of her elderly parents.  Despite the hardships within the family, Stephen managed to continue his education to the college level.

In the fall of 1966 King enrolled at the University of Maine at Orono, majoring in English.  Throughout his college career, King participated in the school newspaper by writing weekly columns and he was also involved in student politics, serving as a member on the Student Senate.  Stephen also supported the anti-war movement on campus.  King graduated in the spring of 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in English and was qualified to teach at the high school level.   However, when King’s novel Carrie was published in 1973, he was able to leave teaching and pursue writing full time.

Stephen King has had many literary successes over the last decades.  Some of his most famous literary works are: Carrie, The Shining, Cujo, It, Pet Sematary, and Salem’s Lot.  Many of his literary works have been turned into major motion pictures and smaller works.  King has published over 150 written works over the years, such as short stories, novels, and anthologies.  Though King has written non-fiction works and poems, he is most well-known for writing horror, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy fiction novels and short stories.  

Besides much of his writing style being derived from the horror genre, King is known to write in more of a ‘free’ manner.  Instead of planning what one of his novels will revolve around, he begins with a central idea and lets it branch out as he writes.  Despite this idea however, King believes that “you must not come lightly to the blank page”, you need some kind of emotion or feeling behind your writing (http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Stephen_King).  King also tends to link many of his novels or short stories together by mentioning the same events, characters, or towns within them.  With new novels on the way, there is the possibility that he will continue this.

As of the current date, Stephen King is expected to release two books: 11/22/63, and Discordia Chapter II.  11/22/63 is expected to be released in November of 2011 and Discordia Chapter II currently does not have a set release date.  Besides new releases, there are also two novels that are going to be produced as films or television projects.  His novel The Dark Tower is set to become both a film and television project under NBC Universal and more details about this are expected to be released in May of this year.  The novel Home Delivery (Nightmares & Dreamscapes) is also expected to be released to theaters, but the release date is still unknown.  Though Stephen King has been releasing less novels and short stories as he ages, one thing is for sure: he will never quit writing.

(http://www.stephenking.com/the_author.html)