Featured Author: Stephen King

 

This month we are hosting the first ever Chunky Book Club (to see our selections for the rest of the year and the schedule of discussions, visit the Chunky Book Club page). We've selected Stephen King's best seller 11/22/63 for our March read. Formal questions about the book will appear on this blog by mid-month.

Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947 and grew up in Durham, Maine. He attended the University of Maine at Orono, where he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, The Maine Campus. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate, and supporting the anti-war movement. King graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English. He married Tabitha Spruce in 1971. 

King's first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") was to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. He also sold stories to men's magazines. Many of these were later gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

King sprang onto the literary scene with the publication of Carrie (Doubleday, 1974) which was later made into a movie. The success of Carrie allowed him to leave his high school teaching position and write full-time. Other best selling novels followed including The Shining, The Stand and The Dead Zone.

Stephen King is known as a prolific writer of horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy. His books have sold more than 350 million copies world wide and many of his literature has been adapted to the screen and television. As of 2011, he had written and published 49 novels, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman, five non-fiction books, and nine collections of short stories. Many of his stories are set in his home state of Maine. He is an award winning author and was recognized for his literary talent by receiving The National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 2003.

Here is a terrific interview with Stephen King:



Read more about King and his work on Wikipedia and at the author's website.