Gregory Maguire

Gregory Maguire is an American novelist. He is the author of Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and several dozen other novels for adults and children. Many of Maguires adult novels are inspired by classic childrens stories Wicked transforms the Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baums The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation into the misunderstood greenskinned Elphaba Thropp. The blockbuster Broadway musical Wicked, at its height running nine companies simultaneously around the world, was inspired by Maguires first adult novel. The musical is one of the ten longestrunning plays currently staged in Londons West End, and in 2016 is set to become one of the ten longestrunning musicals in Broadway history.

Maguire, born and raised in Albany, New York, is the middle child of seven. Schooled in Catholic institutions through high school, he received a BA in English and Art from the State University of New York at Albany, an MA in Childrens Literature from Simmons College, and a PhD in English and American Literature from Tufts University. His doctoral thesis was about Englishlanguage fantasy written for children between 1938 and 1988. He was a professor and codirector at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Childrens Literature from 1979 to 1986. In 1987, Maguire cofounded a nonprofit educational charity, Childrens Literature New England, Inc., and was codirector for twentyfive years. He has been a board member of the National Childrens Book and Literacy Alliance, and has served on boards at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Board of Associates of the Boston Public Library, the Concord Free Press, among others.

Source: Wikipedia