Tabitha King

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

As of 2026, King had published eight novels and two works of non-fiction. She published her first novel, Small World, through Signet Books in 1981 and in 2006, Candles Burning was published by Berkley Books. 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.

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

Reception

Reception to King's work has ranged from negative to positive. Pearl received positive mentions from the Los Angeles Times and the Bangor Daily News, while the Chicago Tribune panned Survivor. The Arizona Daily Star criticized One on One, calling King "a hack", whereas Entertainment Weekly, Time, and the Rocky Mountain News gave the novel positive reviews. Caretakers was lauded by The New York Times for its characterization of its protagonists. In 2006, King completed and published Michael McDowell's final novel, Candles Burning, to mixed reviews. Bookreporter.com wrote that some readers might be disappointed by the changes King made to McDowell's original.

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

King has served on several boards and committees in the state of Maine including the Bangor Public Library board. She also served on the board of the Maine Public Broadcasting System until 1994. 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. In 2019, Tabitha and Stephen King donated $1.25 million to the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

She serves as vice president of WZON/WZLO/WKIT radio stations, as well as in the administration of two family philanthropic foundations. 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.

Tabitha and Stephen King married on January 2, 1971. They have a daughter, Naomi, and two sons, Joe Hill (Joseph Hillström King) and Owen King, who are both writers.

Partnership with Stephen King

Prior to her husband's commercial success, Tabitha worked extra shifts at Dunkin' Donuts so that Stephen could write full-time. As Stephen 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. She told him: "You've got something here. I really think you do."

That began a practice that continues today: Tabitha and Stephen review each other's drafts and also those of their two sons.