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Gregory Maguire

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Gregory Maguire (born June 9, 1954) is an American novelist. He is the author of Wicked, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and several dozen other novels for adults and children. Many of Maguire's adult novels are inspired by classic children's stories. Maguire published his first novel, The Lightning Time, in 1978. Wicked, published in 1995, was his first novel for adults. It was adapted into a popular Broadway musical in 2003.

Gregory Maguire
Maguire in 2007
Maguire in 2007
Born (1954-06-09) June 9, 1954 (age 70)
Albany, New York, U.S.
OccupationNovelist
EducationUniversity at Albany (BA)
Simmons University (MA)
Tufts University (PhD)
GenreFantasy, children's literature
Spouse
Andy Newman
​
(m. 2004)​
Children3
Website
gregorymaguire.com

Maguire is married to American painter Andy Newman, in one of the first same-sex marriages performed in the state of Massachusetts. They have three children.[1]

Biography

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Born and raised in Albany, New York, Gregory Maguire is the youngest of four children born to Helen and John Maguire. His mother died from complications suffered giving birth to him, which prompted his father to send him to live with an aunt. His aunt relinquished him to a local orphanage when he was six months old. He was reclaimed from the orphanage at age two, after his father's remarriage. Maguire has three half-siblings from his father's second marriage.[1]

Schooled in Catholic institutions through high school,[2] he received a BA in English and art from the State University of New York at Albany, an MA in children's literature from Simmons College, and a PhD in English and American literature from Tufts University.[3] His doctoral thesis was on children's fantasy written from 1938 to 1989.

In 1978, at the age of 25, Maguire published his first novel, The Lightning Time. Around the same time, he began to realize he was gay.[1] He was a professor and co-director at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature from 1979 to 1986. In 1987, Maguire co-founded a nonprofit educational charity, Children's Literature New England, Inc., and was co-director for twenty-five years. He has lived in Dublin, London, and the greater Boston area.[3]

In 1995, Maguire published his first adult novel, Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Though the novel was initially unsuccessful, it sold 500,000 copies by the time the Broadway adaptation opened in 2003. In 2005, ten years after its publication, Wicked spent 26 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.[1]

Maguire met American painter Andy Newman in 1997 at the Blue Mountain Center art colony. Within a month of meeting, they had fallen in love. They adopted three children: Luke and Alex, originally from Cambodia, and Helen, originally from Guatemala. Maguire and Newman were married in June 2004, shortly after same-sex marriage became possible in Massachusetts.[1] They have lived in Concord, Massachusetts since 1999.[4][5] On April 13, 2009, Maguire and his family were featured on Oprah.[6]

Bibliography

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Wicked series

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For children

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  • The Lightning Time (1978)
  • The Daughter of the Moon (1980)
  • Lights on the Lake (1981)
  • The Dream Stealer (1983)
  • The Peace and Quiet Diner (1988)
  • I Feel like the Morning Star (1989)
  • Lucas Fishbone (1990)
  • Missing Sisters (1994)
  • Oasis (1996)
  • The Good Liar (1997)
  • Crabby Cratchitt (2000)
  • Leaping Beauty: And Other Animal Fairy Tales (2004)
  • The Hamlet Chronicles:
    • Seven Spiders Spinning (1994)
    • Six Haunted Hairdos (1997)
    • Five Alien Elves (1998)
    • Four Stupid Cupids (2000)
    • Three Rotten Eggs (2002)
    • A Couple of April Fools (2004)
    • One Final Firecracker (2005)
  • What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy (2007)
  • Missing Sisters (2009)
  • Egg and Spoon (2014)
  • Cress Watercress (2022)

For adults

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Short stories

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  • Scarecrow (2001), published in Half-Human edited by Bruce Coville (Note: This is the life story of the Scarecrow from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but is not a part of The Wicked Years.)
  • Fee, Fie, Foe et Cetera (2002), published in The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest
  • The Oakthing (2004), published in The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm
  • Chatterbox, published in I Believe in Water: Twelve Brushes With Religion
  • The Honorary Shepherds (1994), published in Am I Blue?:Coming Out From The Silence
  • Beyond the Fringe (1998) published in A Glory of Unicorns
  • The Seven Stage a Comeback (2000) published in A Wolf at the Door and Other Retold Fairy Tales
  • Matchless: A Christmas Story (2009)
  • The Silk Road Runs Through Tupperneck, N.H. (2009), published in How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity
  • Missing in Venice (2011), published in The Chronicles of Harris Burdick
  • In That Country (2012), published in Parnassus

Non-fiction

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  • Innocence and Experience: Essays and Conversations on Children's Literature (ed., with Barbara Harrison) (1987)
  • Origins of Story: On Writing for Children (ed., with Barbara Harrison) (1999)
  • Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation (2009)

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Alex Witchell (March 11, 2007). "Mr. Wicked". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
  2. ^ Sunderland, Mitchell (October 28, 2015). "'Alice in Wonderland' Shows Why Adult Men Are Dumb". Broadly. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Gregory Maguire – Harper Collins Publishers". Gregorymaguire.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
  4. ^ "Speaker Series: Andy Newman & Gregory Maguire | The Umbrella Arts Center". theumbrellaarts.org. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  5. ^ Staff, Community Advocate (April 2, 2021). "Massachusetts is the perfect home for 'Wicked' author Gregory Maguire". Fifty Plus Advocate. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  6. ^ "Gregory and Andy's Family Life Video". Oprah.com. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
  7. ^ Hall, Margaret (February 8, 2024). "Gregory Maguire Writing New Wicked Prequel Elphie". Playbill. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
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