Stephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947, at the Maine General Hospital in Portland to Nellie Ruth Pillsbury, a caregiver, and Donald Edwin King, a merchant seaman. His father, who was born as Pollock, used the surname King, and Stephen was born under that name. He has an older brother, David.
The family's life changed dramatically when Stephen was nine years old, as his father disappeared one night, never to be seen again. Ruth King took over raising the family with the help of relatives, and they moved around the United States for several years before settling back in Durham, Maine in 1958.
Stephen began writing in 1959, when he and his brother David published a local newspaper called "Dave's Rag". He attended Lisbon High School and collaborated with his friend Chris Chesley on a collection of short stories called "People, Places, and Things--Volume I". King's stories included "Hotel at the End of the Road", "I've Got to Get Away!", and "The Dimension Warp".
In 1965, King made his first published appearance in the magazine Comics Review with his story "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber". He graduated from high school in 1966 and attended the University of Maine on a scholarship. King completed his first full-length novel, "The Long Walk", but it was rejected by Bennett Cerf/Random House.
After graduating from the University of Maine in 1970, King took a job pumping gas at a filling station and began writing short stories for men's magazines. He married Tabitha King in 1971 and took a teaching job at Hampden Academy. King began working on a novel called "Carrie", which was eventually published in 1974 and became a huge success.
Since then, King has written numerous bestselling novels and short stories, and has been called the "Master of Horror". His books have been translated into 33 languages and published in over 35 countries. King continues to live in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, and writes out of his home.
In 1999, King was severely injured in an accident that left him in critical condition with multiple injuries, including a broken leg and a fractured hip. After several weeks of recovery, he was released from the hospital and has since made a full recovery.
