Tabitha Jane King ( Spruce, born March 24, 1949) is an American author.

Early life

Tabitha King is the third eldest daughter of Sarah Jane Spruce (née White; December 7, 1923 – April 14, 2007) and Raymond George Spruce (December 29, 1923 – May 29, 2014). King attended college at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. It is classifie ...

, where she met her husband

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

through her work-study job in the

Raymond H. Fogler Library The Raymond H. Fogler Library is an academic library at the University of Maine in Orono. The library's collections include approximately more than 1 million volumes, nearly 4 million periodical subscriptions, 1.6 million microform ...

Career

As of 2006, King had published eight novels and two works of non-fiction. She published her first novel, ''Small World'', through

Signet Books The New American Library (also known as NAL) is an American publisher based in New York, founded in 1948. Its initial focus was affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works as well as popular and pulp fiction, but it now publish ...

in 1981, and in 2006, ''Candles Burning'' was published through

Berkley Books Berkley Books is an imprint of the Penguin Group. History Berkley Books began as an independent company in 1955. It was founded as "Chic News Company" by Charles Byrne and Frederick Klein, who had worked for Avon; they quickly renamed it Berkl ...

. The paperback rights for ''Small World'' were bought by New American Library for $165,000. ''Candles Burning'' was written predominantly by Michael McDowell, who died in 1999, and the McDowell family requested that King finish the work.

Social activism

King has served on several boards and committees in the state of Maine, such as the Bangor Public Library board. She also served on the board of the Maine

Public Broadcasting System The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...

until 1994. In 1998 she received the inaugural Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize, the

Maine Humanities Council The 'Maine Humanities Council (MHC) was founded in 1975 as a private nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is one of 56 humanities councils in the United States and its territories. The MHC is also home of the Harri ...

's highest award, for her work with literacy for the state of Maine. She currently serves as vice president of

WZON WZON (620 Hertz, kHz) is an AM broadcasting, AM radio station broadcasting an oldies format, with one afternoon talk show. The station is licensed to Bangor, Maine, Bangor and serves Central Maine. Along with sister stations 100.3 WKIT and 103 ...

WZLO WZLO (103.1 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station broadcasting an adult album alternative format. Licensed to Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, the station serves the Bangor area. It is also broadcast on 98.3 in Bangor using an FM translator. The studi ...

/ WKIT radio stations as well as in the administration of two family philanthropic foundations.

Reception

Reception to King's work has ranged from negative to positive. ''Pearl'' received positive mentions from the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' and the ''Bangor Daily News'', while the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' panned ''Survivor''. The ''

Arizona Daily Star The ''Arizona Daily Star'' is the major morning daily newspaper that serves Tucson and surrounding districts of southern Arizona in the United States. History L. C. Hughes was the Arizona Territory governor and founder of the ''Arizona Star' ...

'' criticized ''One on One'', calling King "a hack", whereas ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'', and the ''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As ...

'' gave the novel positive reviews. ''Caretakers'' received positive praise by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', while Bookreporter.com wrote that some readers might be disappointed by the changes made to McDowell's ''Candles Burning''.

Awards and recognition

*Honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters, University of Maine in Orono (May 1987) *Dowd Achievement Award (1992) *Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize (1998)

Personal life

She and Stephen King married on January 2, 1971. They have three children: Naomi and Joe Hill and Owen King, who are both writers.

Bibliography

Novels

Nonfiction

Short stories

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

Poetry

* ''A Gradual Canticle for Augustine'' (1967) * ''Elegy for Ike'' (1967) * ''Note 1 from Herodotus'' (1968) * ''Nonsong'' (1970) * ''The Last Vampire: A Baroque Fugue'' (1971)

Teleplay

* "The Passion of Reverend Jimmy" (2004)

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

References

External links

* *
Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation

Joseph Hillstrom King

Owen Phillip King
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Tabitha 1949 births 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers American women novelists Living people People from Old Town, Maine Stephen King University of Maine alumni Writers from Bangor, Maine Activists from Maine Novelists from Maine