was born in Portland, Maine. His father Donald Edwin King deserted them when Stephen was two year old. This left his mother Nellie Ruth Pillsbury “Ruth” to raise King and his older brother David. Kings family suffered from financial strain and moved around from Durham, Maine to Fort Wayne, Indiana and then to Union, Connecticut.
Kings first attempt at being author came at a very early age when he wrote stories based on movies and sold them to his classmates and friends. David, Kings brother self-published “Dave’s Rag” a local events type paper that King would also contribute to. When king was about thirteen he found a box of his father’s old books. The books were mainly horror and science fiction paperbacks. He loved them!
In 1966 he studied English at the University of Maine at Orono. He wrote a column for the university magazine called “King’s Garbage Truck”. While attending the university he meet his soon to be wife Tabitha Spruce and they married in 1971. When King finished college with a Bachelor of Arts in English he took a job as a teacher at Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine.
Poverty revisited King at this time in his life. He lived in a trailer and barely got by. He started writing for men’s magazines and made some extra money on the side to help. He also developed a drinking problem during this time. He was consistently drunk and suffered heavily with alcoholism. He also started a handful of novels including Carrie. Carrie was published by Doubleday and launched King’s writing career. His mother would never see the book published as she died from uterine cancer in 1973.
King also became addicted to cocaine and other drugs that consumed him until the late 80′s when he final got help for his addictions. Many of King’s characters would come from his experiences in this time in his life.