Stephen King
Wrote in a trailer's furnace room on a teacher's salary; his wife pulled Carrie out of the trash.
- Born
- 1947 · Portland, Maine, US
- Roots
- White American; Scots-Irish descent
- Family
- Working class
- His father walked out when he was two; his mother raised two sons on low-wage shifts.
- Education
- University of Maine (English)
- Started with
- A rescued manuscript
- His wife Tabitha retrieved the discarded opening pages of Carrie and told him to finish it.
- Affiliations & societies
- None documented.
- Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.
The pathway
- 1971 · age 23Laundry and classrooms
Industrial laundry work, then teaching at $6,400 a year; the family lives in a trailer, writing done beside the furnace.
- 1973 · age 25Carrie sells$2,500
The hardcover advance is $2,500; he takes the call on a neighbor's phone.
- 1973 · age 26The paperback deal$400K
Rights sell for $400,000 — half of it his — on Mother's Day.
- 1977 · age 29The Shining
The bestsellers begin; he later writes openly about the alcoholism and addiction of these years.
- 1999 · age 51Struck by a van
Nearly dies on a roadside walk; writes through the recovery.
- 2003 · age 56National Book Foundation medal
More than 350 million copies sold across 60-plus novels.
Sources
Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.