According to news reports, the New York Times’ best-selling author Stephen King will narrate the renowned fairytale ‘Hansel and Gretel,’ complete with Maurice Sendak’s illustrations. Stephen King, a prolific writer of mainly horror fiction, undertook the project in early 2025, and the cover bears Sendak’s iconic artwork. HarperCollins Publishers and The Maurice Sendak Foundation announced that the audiobook is slated for release on September 2nd.

One might wonder what a German fairytale and Stephen King might have in common. However, it is often the stories we think we know that need to be revisited.

A Unique Edge

Stephen King, a native of Portland, Maine, and born in 1947, discovered his love for storytelling at a young age. Jhonathan and the Witchs was Stephen King’s first offering, penned when he was nine years old. Purposely mispelling the title, King used a literary device and created a sort of fairytale of his own.

According to King, he “just copying panels out of comic books and then making up my own stories … Film was also a major influence. I loved the movies from the start. So when I started to write, I had a tendency to write in images because that was all I knew at the time.”

In 1967, Stephen King sold his first short story, “The Glass Floor,” and, as they say, the rest is history.

A Unique Voice

Books and libraries continue to play a significant role in Stephen King’s life. Throughout his prolific career, King sought to question presupposed ideas about life. He said in a previous interview, “It was, so far as I can remember, the first book with hands—strong ones that reached out of the pages and seized me by the throat. It said to me, ‘This is not just entertainment; it’s life or death.’ ”

According to American author Walter Mosley, “Stephen King once said that daily life is the frame that makes the picture. His commitment, as I see it, is to celebrate and empower the everyday man and woman as they buy aspirin and cope with cancer. He takes our daily lives and makes them into something heroic. He takes our world, validates our distrust of it and then helps us to see that there’s a chance to transcend the muck. . . .”

A Unique Perspective

Lynn Caponera, executive director of The Maurice Sendak Foundation, said on July 10, “Stephen King’s reading of ‘Hansel and Gretel’ is captivating and thrilling, bringing new depth to this classic tale.” As books are adapted into movies, the demand for audiobooks continues to increase and gain popularity. Unfortunately, Sendak will not see his artwork in the project as the artist passed away in 2012, in Connecticut.

Like Sendak, King approaches life differently, and this latest project is no exception; we eagerly await it.