Tabitha King

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Tabitha "Tabby" Jane King (Template:Née Spruce, born March 24, 1949) is an American author.[1][2][3]

Early life

Born in Old Town, Maine, Tabitha King is the third eldest daughter of Sarah Jane Spruce (née White; December 7, 1923 – April 14, 2007)[4] and Raymond George Spruce (December 29, 1923 – May 29, 2014).[5] King attended John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, Maine[6] before enrolling at the University of Maine, where she met her husband Stephen King through her work-study job in the Raymond H. Fogler Library.

Career

As of 2006, King had published eight novels and two works of non-fiction.[7][8] She published her first novel, Small World, through Signet Books in 1981,[9] and in 2006, Candles Burning was published through Berkley Books.[10][11] The paperback rights for Small World were bought by New American Library for $165,000.[12][13] Candles Burning was written predominantly by Michael McDowell, who died in 1999, and the McDowell family requested that King finish the work.[14]

In 2023, she was the executive producer of the independent horror film The Sudbury Devil.[15]

Partnership with Stephen King

Prior to her husband's commercial success, Tabitha worked extra shifts at Dunkin' Donuts to help provide for their family and assisted in Stephen's editorial process during her little spare time.[13] As Stephen King recalled the origin of his debut novel, Carrie: "Two unrelated ideas, adolescent cruelty and telekinesis, came together." It began as a short story intended for Cavalier; Stephen tossed the first three pages in the trash but Tabitha recovered them, saying she wanted to know what happened next. He followed her advice and expanded it into a novel.[16] She told him: "You've got something here. I really think you do."[17]

This began a practice that continues today: Tabitha and Stephen review each other's drafts and also those of their children.[13]

Reception

Reception to King's work has ranged from negative to positive.[18][19][20] Pearl received positive mentions from the Los Angeles Times and the Bangor Daily News,[21][22] while the Chicago Tribune panned Survivor.[23] The Arizona Daily Star criticized One on One, calling King "a hack",[24] whereas Entertainment Weekly, Time, and the Rocky Mountain News gave the novel positive reviews.[25][26][27] Caretakers received positive praise by The New York Times,[28] while Bookreporter.com wrote that some readers might be disappointed by the changes made to McDowell's Candles Burning.[29]

Awards and recognition

  • Honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters, University of Maine in Orono (May 1987)[30]
  • Dowd Achievement Award (1992)[31]
  • Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize (1998)[32][33]

Social activism

King has served on several boards and committees in the state of Maine, such as the Bangor Public Library board.[34] She also served on the board of the Maine Public Broadcasting System until 1994.[35] In 1998 she received the inaugural Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize, the Maine Humanities Council's highest award, for her work with literacy for the state of Maine.[32] In 2019, Tabitha and Stephen donated $1.25M to the New England Historic Genealogical Society.[36]

She currently serves as vice president of WZON/WZLO/WKIT radio stations, as well as in the administration of two family philanthropic foundations.[34] The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, chaired by her and her husband, ranks sixth among Maine charities in terms of average annual giving, with over $2.8 million in grants per year, according to The Grantsmanship Center.[37]

Personal life

Tabitha and Stephen King married on January 2, 1971.[38][39][40][41] They have three children: a daughter Naomi and two sons, Joe Hill and Owen King, who are both writers.[42]

Bibliography

Novels

Year Title Publisher ISBN Pages Note
1981 Small World Signet Books Template:ISBN 312
1983 Caretakers Scribner's Template:ISBN 274 First novel set in King's fictional community of Nodd's Ridge
1986 The Trap Template:ISBN 352 Also published as Wolves at the Door; second novel set in King's fictional community of Nodd's Ridge
1988 Pearl Signet Books Template:ISBN 368 Third novel set in King's fictional community of Nodd's Ridge
1993 One on One Template:ISBN 528 Fourth novel set in King's fictional community of Nodd's Ridge
1994 The Book of Reuben Template:ISBN 432 Fifth and last novel set in King's fictional community of Nodd's Ridge
1997 Survivor Template:ISBN 496
2006 Candles Burning Berkley Publishing Group Template:ISBN 423 with Michael McDowell. King continued her writing after McDowell's death in 1999.[43]

Nonfiction

Year Title Publisher ISBN Pages Note
1994 Playing Like a Girl; Cindy Blodgett and the Lawrence Bulldogs Season of 93-94 Dendrite Corporation N/A 42 The work is about basketball player Cindy Blodgett during her time at Lawrence High School.[44]
Mid-life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude Berkley Publishing Group Template:ISBN 222 Written by all of the Rock Bottom Remainders with photos by Tabitha King.[45]

Short stories

  • The Blue Chair (1981)
  • The Demonstration (1985)
  • Road Kill (1986)
  • Djinn and Tonic (1998)
  • The Women's Room (2002)
  • Archie Smith, Boy Wonder (2011)

Poetry

  • A Gradual Canticle for Augustine[46] (1967)
  • Elegy for Ike[47] (1967)
  • Note 1 from Herodotus[47] (1968)
  • Nonsong[47] (1970)
  • The Last Vampire: A Baroque Fugue[48] (1971)

Teleplay

Contributions and compilations

  • Murderess Ink: The Better Half of the Mystery, Dilys Winn, ed., Bell, 1979
  • Shadows, Volume 4, C. L. Grant, ed., Doubleday, 1981
  • Midlife Confidential, ed. David Marsh et al., photographs by Tabitha King, Viking Penguin, 1994

Notes

Template:Notelist

References

Template:Reflist

Further reading

  • Mcaleer, Patrick. The Writing Family of Stephen King: A Critical Study of the Fiction of Tabitha King, Joe Hill and Owen King. McFarland. 2011.

External links

Template:Library resources box

Template:Stephen King

Template:Authority control

  1. ↑ Dooley, Jeff (June 2, 1985). "Terror Mistress Tabitha King Spins A Thriller". Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved August 11, 2012.
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  13. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ King, Tabitha, Introduction to Carrie (Collector's Edition) Plume 1991
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  24. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  25. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
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  28. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  29. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  30. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  31. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  32. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  33. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  34. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  35. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  37. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  44. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  47. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  48. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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