Stephen King.
Stephen King has been scaring the hell out of us for 40 years. His debut novel, the epistolary classic Carrie, came out in 1974. Since then, the horror maestro has penned over 60 books. Now, King, 67, will receive the National Medal of Arts from Barack Obama on Thursday at 3 p.m., presumably for being the No. 1 exporter of nightmares in America. This year’s other winners include Oscar-winning actress Sally Field, renowned author Tobias Wolff, visual artist John Baldessari, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. You can watch the ceremony at whitehouse.gov. Expect King’s novel on an evil medal that kills best-selling writers to hit bookshelves next summer.