Stephen Edwin King turns 79 on 21 September 2026. He was born in 1947 in Portland, Maine, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated he was raised by his mother, with spells in Indiana and Connecticut, then Durham, Maine.

He left Lisbon Falls High School in 1966 and the University of Maine at Orono in 1970 with an English degree. His first professional short-story sale, “The Glass Floor,” came in 1967. From autumn 1971 he taught English at Hampden Academy, writing in the evenings and at weekends.

In spring 1973 Doubleday accepted the novel “Carrie,” published in 1974. A paperback sale let him leave teaching. What followed included “’Salem’s Lot,” “The Shining,” written largely in Boulder, Colorado, “The Stand,” “It,” “Misery” and “The Dark Tower” series.

King has also published as Richard Bachman. The work goes beyond horror into drama, fantasy, science fiction and crime. Film and television adaptations — from “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Stand by Me” to “Misery” and “The Green Mile” — are not automatically scripts he wrote.

The official biography, written by Tabitha King and updated by Marsha DeFilippo, records more than 50 books, the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal and the 2014 National Medal of Arts. He lives in Maine and Florida with his wife, the novelist Tabitha King.

Any birthday message should come only from verified channels. Titles and years stay those of the author’s bibliography, not film posters.

Image: Stephen King at the Toronto International Film Festival, 2024 / Kevin Payravi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. An event portrait, not a 21 September 2026 celebration. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: The Author | StephenKing.com; Stephen King | Britannica.