Stephen King is one of the most widely recognized authors of horror and supernatural fiction, with a career spanning more than five decades. Born in Portland, Maine in 1947, King began selling short fiction professionally in the 1960s while studying at the University of Maine. He later worked as a high school English teacher, writing during evenings and weekends until the sale of Carrie allowed him to become a full-time writer.
Since Carrie was published in 1974, King has built an enormous body of work that moves through horror, supernatural fiction, dark fantasy, suspense, crime, science fiction, and psychological drama. Books including ‘Salem’s Lot, The Shining, The Stand, The Dead Zone, It, Misery, Pet Sematary, and the Dark Tower series have become enduring parts of popular culture. His stories often find horror in familiar places, from small Maine towns and family homes to hotels, schools, prisons, and seemingly ordinary roads.
King’s work frequently returns to themes of grief, addiction, childhood trauma, obsession, isolation, violence, friendship, and the supernatural. Many of his stories also share characters, locations, or ideas, creating connections that stretch across books written decades apart. The Dark Tower series sits at the centre of many of these connections, bringing together elements of horror, fantasy, Westerns, and science fiction.
His writing has also had a remarkable life on screen. Carrie, The Shining, Misery, The Shawshank Redemption, Stand by Me, The Green Mile, It, Doctor Sleep, and numerous other stories have been adapted for film and television, helping King’s characters and worlds reach far beyond his original readership.
King has also written nonfiction, including Danse Macabre and On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, and has published work under the name Richard Bachman. His honours include the National Book Foundation’s 2003 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and the 2014 National Medal of Arts.
With haunted hotels, vampires, possessed cars, ancient evils, psychic children, strange towns, and plenty of very human monsters scattered throughout his work, Stephen King’s place within horror and darker fiction is hard to miss. His catalogue offers an enormous amount to explore, including plenty of stories that have become touchstones for horror and gothic audiences.
