Joe Hill (writer)

Joe Hill (writer)

Joseph Hillström King (born June 4, 1972), better known by the pen name Joe Hill, is an American writer. His work includes the novels Heart-Shaped Box (2007), Horns (2010), NOS4A2 (2013), The Fireman (2016) and King Sorrow (2025); the short story collections 20th Century Ghosts (2005) and Strange Weather (2017); and the comic book series Locke & Key (2008–2013). Awards include: Bram Stoker Awards, British Fantasy Awards, and an Eisner Award.

Early life

Joe Hill (writer)

Joe Hill was born in 1972 to authors Tabitha King (née Spruce) and Stephen King. He was born and grew up in Bangor, Maine. His younger brother Owen King is also a writer, and his older sibling Naomi King is a Unitarian minister.

At age nine, he appeared in the 1982 film Creepshow, directed by George A. Romero, which co-starred and was written by his father.

Career

Joe Hill (writer)

Hill chose to use an abbreviated form of his middle name for his professional surname in 1997, out of a desire to succeed based solely on his own merits rather than as the son of one of the world's best-selling and most-recognized living novelists. After achieving a degree of independent success, Hill publicly confirmed his identity in 2007, the year his first novel came out, after an article the previous year in Variety reported his identity.

Hill is a recipient of the Ray Bradbury Fellowship. He has also received the William L. Crawford award for best new fantasy writer in 2006, the A. E. Coppard Long Fiction Prize in 1999 for "Better Than Home", and the 2006 World Fantasy Award—Novella for "Voluntary Committal". His stories have appeared in a variety of magazines, such as Subterranean Magazine, Postscripts and The High Plains Literary Review, and in many anthologies, including The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror (ed. Stephen Jones) and The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (ed. Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link and Gavin Grant).

Hill's first book, the limited edition collection 20th Century Ghosts (published in 2005 by PS Publishing), showcases fourteen of his short stories and won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection, together with the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection and Best Short Story for "Best New Horror". In October 2007, Hill's mainstream US and UK publishers reprinted 20th Century Ghosts, without the extras published in the 2005 slipcased versions, but including one new story.

Hill at a book store reading in March 2007

Hill's first novel, Heart-Shaped Box, was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in February, 2007 and by Victor Gollancz Ltd in UK the following month. The novel reached number eight on the New York Times bestseller list on April 1, 2007. In September, 2007, at the thirty-first Fantasycon, the British Fantasy Society awarded Hill the first ever Sydney J. Bounds Best Newcomer Award. In 2008, Hill's comic book series Locke & Key was released. The first issue, released on February 20, 2008, sold out its initial publication run in one day. A collection of the series in limited form from Subterranean Press sold out within 24 hours of being announced.

Hill's second novel, Horns, was published in February 2010. A film based on the novel was released in 2014, directed by Alexandre Aja and starring Daniel Radcliffe and Juno Temple. NOS4A2, his third novel, was published in April 2013. The novel peaked at number five on the New York Times Best Seller list. Hill's fourth novel, The Fireman, was released in May 2016. It entered the New York Times Best Seller list at number one, making it his highest-ranked novel.

In 2019, In the Tall Grass, co-written with his father Stephen King, was released as a Netflix Original film. Filming for the Locke & Key TV series, also by Netflix, began in the middle of January 2019 and the first season aired in February 2020. AMC began broadcasting a TV series of NOS4A2 in July 2019. The first season of Creepshow, released in September 2019, featured an adaptation of Hill's short story "By the Silver Waters of Lake Champlain".

Following DC Comics's announcement in June 2019 that it would suspend publication of its Vertigo Comics imprint, they announced that Hill would oversee and share the writing for a new horror line, Hill House Comics. which Hill had begun discussing with editor Mark Doyle in 2017. The line was originally to be titled Vertigo Fall, then Joe Hill's Vertigo Fall, before being given its eventual name.

Among Hill's unpublished works is one partly completed story with his father ("But Only Darkness Loves Me"), which is held with the Stephen King papers at the Special Collections Unit of the Raymond H Fogler Library at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine.

Personal life

Joe Hill (writer)

In 1999, Joe Hill married Leanora Legrand, whom he met at Vassar College. They have three children. The couple divorced in 2010.

In 2018, he married British publisher Gillian Redfearn. Their twins were born in 2022.

Awards

Joe Hill (writer)

<table><thead><tr><th>Work</th><th>Year & Award</th><th>Category</th><th>Result</th><th>Ref.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Better Than Home</td><td>2000 A. E. Coppard Long Fiction Prize</td><td></td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>My Father's Mask</td><td>2005 International Horror Guild Award</td><td>Intermediate Form</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Voluntary Committal</td><td>2005 International Horror Guild Award</td><td>Long Fiction</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2006 Locus Award</td><td>Novella</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2006 British Fantasy Award</td><td>Novella</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2006 World Fantasy Award</td><td>Novella</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>20th Century Ghosts</td><td>2005 International Horror Guild Award</td><td>Collection</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2005 Bram Stoker Award</td><td>Fiction Collection</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2006 Locus Award</td><td>Collection</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2006 British Fantasy Award</td><td>Collection</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2006 Crawford Award</td><td>New Fantasy Writer</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2006 World Fantasy Award</td><td>Collection</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2008 Audie Awards</td><td>Short Stories or Collections</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2010 Tähtifantasia Award</td><td></td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Best New Horror</td><td>2005 Bram Stoker Award</td><td>Long Fiction</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2006 Locus Award</td><td>Short Story</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2006 British Fantasy Award</td><td>Short Story</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2006 World Fantasy Award</td><td>Short Fiction</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The Black Phone</td><td>2005 British Fantasy Award</td><td>Short Fiction</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>You Will Hear the Locust Sing</td><td>2005 British Fantasy Award</td><td>Short Fiction</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Heart-Shaped Box</td><td>2007 Bram Stoker Award</td><td>First Novel</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2007 Bram Stoker Award</td><td>Novel</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2007 Black Quill Award</td><td>Dark Genre Novel (Reader's Choice)</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2008 Macavity Awards</td><td>First Mystery Novel</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2008 Locus Award</td><td>First Novel</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2008 British Fantasy Award</td><td>August Derleth Award</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2008 Audie Awards</td><td>Thriller or Suspense</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2008 International Thriller Writers Award</td><td>First Novel</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Thumbprint</td><td>2007 Shirley Jackson Award</td><td>Novelette</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2008 British Fantasy Award</td><td>Short Fiction</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Locke & Key (with Gabriel Rodriguez)</td><td>2008 Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award</td><td>Best Horror Comic Book</td><td>Honorable Mention</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2009 Eisner Awards</td><td>Best Writer</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2009 British Fantasy Award</td><td>Comic/Graphic Novel</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2011 Eisner Awards</td><td>Best Writer</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2012 British Fantasy Award</td><td>Comic/Graphic Novel</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2015 Mythopoeic Awards</td><td>Adult Literature</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2016 Audie Awards</td><td>Original Work</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Gunpowder</td><td>2009 British Fantasy Award</td><td>Novella</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead</td><td>2010 Tähtifantasia Award</td><td></td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Horns</td><td>2010 Bram Stoker Award</td><td>Novel</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2011 RUSA CODES Reading List</td><td>Horror</td><td>Shortlisted</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2011 Locus Award</td><td>Fantasy Novel</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The Cape</td><td>2011 Eisner Award</td><td>Single Issue/One-Shot</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom #1: Sparrow</td><td>2011 Eisner Awards</td><td>Single Issue/One-Shot</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Locke and Key, Vol. 4: Keys to the Kingdom (with Gabriel Rodriguez)</td><td>2011 Goodreads Choice Awards</td><td>Graphic Novels & Comics</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2011 Bram Stoker Award</td><td>Graphic Novel</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2012 Hugo Award</td><td>Graphic Story</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2012 British Fantasy Award</td><td>Comic/Graphic Novel</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Locke & Key: Guide to the Known Keys</td><td>2012 Eisner Awards</td><td>Single Issue/One-Shot</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Locke and Key, Vol. 5: Clockworks (with Gabriel Rodriguez)</td><td>2012 Goodreads Choice Awards</td><td>Graphic Novels & Comics</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2013 Hugo Award</td><td>Graphic Story</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>NOS4A2</td><td>2013 Goodreads Choice Awards</td><td>Horror</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2013 Bram Stoker Award</td><td>Novel</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2014 British Fantasy Award</td><td>August Derleth Award</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2014 Locus Award</td><td>Fantasy Novel</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2014 Lord Ruthven Award</td><td>Fiction</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The Devil on the Staircase</td><td>2013 FantLab's Book of the Year Award</td><td>Translated Novella or Short Story</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Locke & Key Vol. 6: Alpha and Omega (with Gabriel Rodriguez)</td><td>2014 Bram Stoker Award</td><td>Graphic Novel</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2014 Goodreads Choice Awards</td><td>Graphic Novels & Comics</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The Fireman</td><td>2016 Goodreads Choice Awards</td><td>Horror</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2017 Locus Award</td><td>Horror Novel</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2017 RUSA CODES Reading List</td><td>Horror</td><td>Shortlisted</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2018 Premio Ignotus</td><td>Foreign Novel</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Strange Weather</td><td>2017 Bram Stoker Award</td><td>Fiction Collection</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2017 Goodreads Choice Awards</td><td>Horror</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2018 Locus Award</td><td>Collection</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2018 British Fantasy Award</td><td>Collection</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>You Are Released</td><td>2018 Bram Stoker Award</td><td>Long Fiction</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Full Throttle</td><td>2019 Goodreads Choice Awards</td><td>Horror</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2020 Audie Awards</td><td>Short Stories or Collections</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2020 Locus Award</td><td>Collection</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Basketful of Heads</td><td>2020 Goodreads Choice Awards</td><td>Graphic Novels & Comics</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Basketful of Heads #1</td><td>2020 British Fantasy Award</td><td>Comic/Graphic Novel</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Late Returns</td><td>2020 Locus Award</td><td>Novelette</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2020 Shirley Jackson Award</td><td>Novella</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Rain</td><td>2023 Eisner Awards</td><td>Adaptation from Another Medium</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The Pram</td><td>2024 Shirley Jackson Award</td><td>Novelette</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td>2007 British Fantasy Award</td><td>Sydney J. Bounds Award Best Newcomer</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Screenwriting credits

Joe Hill (writer)

• Fade Away (2005) (unproduced screenplay co-written with Owen King) • Tales From The Darkside (2015) (unproduced pilot episode) • Locke & Key (2018) (unaired pilot episode) • Locke & Key (2019) (2 episodes, including pilot episode co-written with Eli Coleite)

Adaptations

Joe Hill (writer)

• Pop Art (2008), short film directed by Amanda Boyle, based on short story "Pop Art" • Abraham's Boys (2009), short film directed by Dorothy Street, based on short story "Abraham's Boys" • Locke & Key (2011), TV pilot for Fox directed by Mark Romanek, based on comic Locke & Key • Horns (2013), film directed by Alexandre Aja, based on novel Horns • Locke & Key (2017), TV pilot for Hulu, based on comic Locke & Key • In the Tall Grass (2019), film directed by Vincenzo Natali, based on novella "In the Tall Grass" • "By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain" (2019), segment of series Creepshow, directed by Tom Savini, based on novelette "By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain" • NOS4A2 (2019–2020), series created by Jami O'Brien, based on novel NOS4A2 • Locke & Key (2020–2022), series created by Carlton Cuse, Meredith Averill and Aron Eli Coleite, based on comic Locke & Key • "Twittering from the Circus of the Dead" (2020), segment of series Creepshow, directed by Greg Nicotero, based on short story "Twittering from the Circus of the Dead" • The Black Phone (2021), film directed by Scott Derrickson, based on short story "The Black Phone"; and its sequel Black Phone 2 (2025) based on an idea by Joe Hill. • "Mums" (2021), segment of series Creepshow, directed by Rusty Cundieff, based on novelette "Mums" • Abraham's Boys (2025)