Stephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947 at the Maine General Hospital in Portland, Maine. His parents were Donald Edwin King and Ruth Pillsbury King. Stephen being the only natural born child in the family and his older brother David having been adopted at birth two years earlier.

"The Kings were the typical, "nuclear" family of the fifties until one night when Donald King said he was stepping out for cigarettes and was never heard from again." At this point Ruth took over raising the family with help from other relatives of the family. They traveled throughout many states over several years finally moving back to Durham, Maine in 1958. (P.R. 5 pg.1)

Stephen King began his actual writing career in January of 1959 when David King and Stephen decided to publish their own local town newspaper named Dave's Rag. David

"Stephen King is appropriately called the "Master of Horror". His books have been translated into 33 different languages and published in over 35 different countries. There are currently over 300 million copies of his novels in publication worldwide. " (P.R. 5 pg.2)

On January 2, 1971, Tabitha Jane Spruce and Stephen King were married. And in the fall of 1971, King took a teaching job at Hampden Academy earning $6,400 a year. The Kings then moved to Hermon, a town west of Bangor, Maine.

King has been nominated on several occasions for the World Fantasy Award. "The Mist", just one of many of King's short stories was nominated for this award. "The Way Station", another short story was nominated for the Nebula Award, which was voted upon by members of the SFWA, Science Fiction Writers of America. King even won a very special British Fantasy Award, which is rarely awarded to American authors. "In 1981, King's alma mater honored him with a Career Alumni Award." (P.R. 2 Pg. 69)

"The Shawshank Redemption" was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published. The movie unfortunately did not win any of these awards, but it did win other awards. It won two Golden Globes, a Director's Guild Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. (P.R. 1 pg.180)

King's next idea came from the poem by Robert Browning, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came." He began work on The Dark Tower saga. But due to his lack of money he was unable to finish the novel and it too was filed away. King took a measly job of pumping gas earning $1.25 an hour. Stephen King then began to earn money for his writings by submitting his short stories to men's magazines such as Cavalier.

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Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)