Tabitha King was born Tabitha Jane-Frances Spruce in Old Town, Maine. She was born to Raymond George and Sarah Jane White Spruce. She is one of eight children.
Her primary education took place at St. Mary’s Grammar in Old Town, from which she graduated in 1963. She then attended John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor until 1967, and earned her bachelor’s degree in history in 1971 from the University of Maine in Orono.
King met her husband, author Stephen King, in college through her work-study job in the Fogler Library. Their daughter Naomi Rachel was born in 1970. They married on January 2, 1971. They had two more children: Joseph Hillstrom King in 1972 and Owen Phillip King in 1977. Naomi is a former restaurateur and now a minister. Both sons have become authors in their own right.
King has published eight novels (the eighth in 2006 with Michael McDowell as co-author), all of which were released in hardcover by Macmillan and paperback by New American Library. She has also published two works of non-fiction, one of which was published in paperback by Dendrite.
King serves on several boards and committees in the state of Maine, including the board of directors of Shaw House (an adolescent homeless shelter in Bangor), the board of the Maine Public Broadcasting System, and the Bangor Public Library board.
She has previously served on the University of Maine Press board and for three years as a board member on the Maine Humanities Council.
In 1996, she served as chair of the campaign to renovate the Bangor Public Library, which raised over eight million dollars. This was the largest charitable campaign in history of Bangor as of March 2005.
In 1997, King served as co-chair of the campaign to raise funds for a former school building to permanently house Shaw House.
She currently serves as vice president of WZON/WKIT, as well as in the administration of two family philanthropic foundations.
In May 1987, King and her husband were awarded Honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters from their alma mater, University of Maine in Orono.
In 1998, King was the recipient of the first Annual Constance H. Carlson Public Humanities Prize from the Maine Humanities Council for her service to the advancement of the Humanities.
