Carrie, 50 years on: Stephen King and the book that made him

Carrie was published in 1974, and soon became a huge success for the 26-year-old debut novelist 

Stephen King published Carrie in 1974. (Photo by Eric Feferberg / AFP) 

Horror is like a scalpel. In one person’s hand it can hack, slash, and devastate. In another’s it has the precision of an artist. Get you a writer who can do both.

Like one of the most iconic authors of all time, Stephen King, who has just marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of his first book, Carrie, about a teenage outcast with telekinetic powers who destroys an entire town after bullying and being humiliated with a particularly nasty prank.