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, which was later adapted into a two-part musical film series with the first film released in 2024 and the second film released in 2025.
Gregory Maguire was born and raised in Albany, New York, 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 degree in English from the State University of New York at Albany in 1976, an MA degree in children's literature from Simmons College in 1978, and a PhD in English and American literature from Tufts University in 1990, with his dissertation titled "Themes in English Language Fantastic Literature for Children, 1938-1988".[3]
Career
In 1978, at the age of 24, 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]
Maguire met American painter Andy Newman in 1997 at the Blue Mountain Center, an artists' and writers' colony. They later wed in one of the first same-sex marriages performed in the state of Massachusetts.[1] They adopted three children: two originally from Cambodia, and a third from Guatemala.[4] They have lived in Concord, Massachusetts since 1999.[5][6] On April 13, 2009, Maguire and his family were featured on Oprah.[7]
Maguire is a practicing Catholic.[8] He attended Catholic school for 13 years and church at St Vincent de Paul in Albany, New York.[9] While in college, Maguire spent his time cantoring at events for his church and founded a contemporary music group in his parish.[9] Having baptized all three of his adopted children, Maguire, his husband, and children attend Mass.[9]
Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker (2017)
A Wild Winter Swan (2020)
Short stories
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.)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
