He earned a master’s in the subject from Simmons College (now university) and a Ph.D. Maguire’s entrance into adult fiction with “Wicked” was preceded by a career focused on children’s literature. Their love of language, story, and the benefits of reading permeated the household.” Finding his voice

My parents were both writers, one professional and one avocational. Making things up with paper and pencil was fully engaging for me when there was nothing else to do. He said, “I was encouraged by the benign neglect of my parents and by general scantness of family funds for other entertainments. The seeds of Maguire’s storytelling were planted when he was a child. His father eventually remarried his mother’s childhood best friend and, from his toddlerhood on, Maguire was raised by his second mother and his father. Tragically, his mother died while giving birth to him. Maguire grew up in Albany, New York, the fourth of seven siblings. “We have never had any difficulty, social or political, with being two men raising three children from infancy-indeed, we might have found ourselves in the most welcoming haven possible, given Massachusetts’ leadership in the matter of legalizing gay marriage,” he said. Here in Massachusetts, Maguire and his partner, Andy Newman, adopted three children and then married in 2004. “Wicked” was created in Massachusetts, where Maguire has lived for the past 42 years, apart from five years spent in London.

It had to have a certain unsavory quality-a word we might wrinkle our lips over, not embrace as a sonorous sound for a blameless sweetheart…” The perfect home Using the initials L, F, and B, Maguire honored Lyman Frank Baum, the author of 1900s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” He said, “I liked the word (Elphaba) because it carries sonic echoes of words like ‘fabulous,’ ‘elfin,’ or ‘alphabet’ or, one might say, the magic set of letters needed to spell a magic spell. Elphaba’s name was created with thought and intent

Maguire’s green-skinned witch, Elphaba, taught us about the ambiguities of evil. Gregory Maguire’s bestselling book-and its spinoff blockbuster musical-helped us see the Wicked Witch of the West in a different light. Twenty-five years ago, “Wicked” exploded into our consciousness. By Jane Keller Gordon, Assistant Editor Gregory Maguire – Author

Gregory maguire author