Overview
Gregory Maguire is an American author. He is the author of the novels Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and many other novels for adults and children. Many of Maguire's adult novels are revisionist retellings of classic children's stories: for example, in Wicked he transformed the Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into the sympathetic protagonist Elphaba. Wicked was turned into a hit Broadway musical of the same name.
Education & Life
He received his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Tufts University, and his B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany. He was a professor and co-director at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature from 1979-1985. In 1987 he co-founded Children's Literature New England <1>. He still serves as co-director of CLNE, although that organization has announced its intention to close after its 2006 institute.<2>
He has three adopted children and is married to painter Andy Newman. Gregory Maguire is also a board member of the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance<3> a national not-for-profit that actively advocates for literacy, literature, and libraries.
Source:
Wikipedia
