Stephen King's 70th birthday to be marked by month of events

Hodder & Stoughton is marking Stephen King’s 70th birthday this September with a month of celebrations in honour of his books and films, featuring interactive events on- and offline.

Celebrations will include a dedicated Twitter emoji, brand partnerships, events and bookshop promotions around the world, the publisher said. It will also feature a "major" partnership with the BFI which is running a "Stephen King on Screen" season at BFI Southbank, including both adaptations of his novels and film favourites selected by King himself. The season will incorporate three dedicated days of “King for a Day” events, with unique fan screenings, panels, and a Hodder-branded "fan zone" where King readers can gather to share their love of his work.

The hashtag #KingforaDay has been awarded its own emoji by Twitter, which will also form the logo for the whole campaign. It will be automatically generated on all tweets using the hashtag on the 21st September, and Hodder will be working with its partners in Australia and New Zealand to help spread the message around the world. A further partnership with another "major international brand" will be announced soon, Hodder said.

In addition, the publisher is teaming up with booksellers to create in-store displays to encourage King fans to #GiveaKing to someone they think would enjoy one of his books.  

The "King for a Day" 2017 campaign follows on from Hodder’s 2016 digital campaign of the same name.

Philippa Pride, Stephen King’s UK editor, said: "Not only is this an incredible opportunity for Hodder to give Stephen King a birthday to remember and to reach out beyond his fan base to new readers, but this activity will also lead on beautifully to publication of a giant Autumn highlight: Sleeping Beauties, co-written by Stephen King and his son Owen King."

Hodder is publishing King's supernatural suspense novel Sleeping Beauties with son Owen, in the first time the pair have collaborated, on 26th September.