Stephen King

Personal life

Stephen King was born Stephen Pollock in 1947, in Maine. His father left the family when King was just two years old, leaving them in great financial difficulties.

King has revealed that his interest in horror fiction started when he was just a child, upon reading some of H.P. Lovecraft’s short stories. At school King started to write his own stories, and even contributed to some fanzines with his early tales.

King married Tabitha Spruce, who was also a writer, in 1971. The two of them struggled financially, as King was only able to sell a limited number of stories, earning just enough to scrape by. King also developed an alcohol problem at this point.

The family’s financial struggles were mostly overcome thanks to the success of King’s debut novel Carrie (1973), but King’s drinking problems kept growing worse. Nevertheless, he continued to write novels and proceeded to produce many bestsellers.

King and his family moved around a lot in the following years, but eventually settled down in King’s home state, Maine. At that point, King and Tabitha had three children together. King became a teacher of creative writing at the University of ...