A Fairytale Pairing: Stephen King and Maurice Sendak To ReimagineHansel and GretelIn New Book

Mar. 15, 2025

Shane Leonard; John Dugdale

The two bestselling authors collaborated in a new imagining of the Grimm Brothers’Hansel and Gretel,set to be released in September. The famous tale, originally published inGrimm’s Fairy Talesin 1812,follows two courageous children as they navigate an ominous, dark forest, eventually meeting an evil cannibalistic witch.

King, 77, is widely renowned as a master of the horror genre, with a number of hit novels, includingThe Shining, ItandPet Sematary,becoming beloved movies. In his extensive career, King has published 65 novels and novellas, and also expanded into crime, sci-fi, fantasy and mystery genres.

“Two of his pictures in particular spoke to me: One was of the wicked witch on her broom with a bag of kidnapped children riding behind her; the other was of the infamous candy house becoming a terrible face,” he said. “I thought, ‘This is what the house really looks like, a devil sick with sin, and it only shows that face when the kids turn their backs.’ I wanted to write that!”

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He added, “To me, it was the essence of this story and, really, all fairytales: a sunny exterior, a dark and terrible center, brave and resourceful children. In a way, I have been writing about kids like Hansel and Gretel for much of my life.”

source: people.com