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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...
, 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.
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 Berk ...
. 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
The Bangor Public Library is the public library of Bangor, Maine. It shares the URSUS online cataloging system with the University of Maine and other Maine libraries.
The library's roots date to 1830, when the Bangor Mechanic Association assembl ...
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 educat ...
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 Harrie ...
'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/
WKIT
WKIT (100.3 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Brewer, Maine, serving the Bangor area of Central Maine. It airs a mainstream rock radio format, calling itself "The Rock of Bangor."
WKIT is part of the Zone Corporation, a Central M ...
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 Un ...
'' 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'' 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 cul ...
'', ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', 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
Owen Philip King (born February 21, 1977) is an American author and the younger son of authors Stephen and Tabitha King.
Early life
King was born in 1977 in Maine to parents Tabitha and Stephen King. He has two older siblings, Naomi King an ...
, 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
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
*
*
Stephen & Tabitha King FoundationJoseph Hillstrom KingOwen 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