Gregory Maguire is the author of the best-selling Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, the basis for the Tony Award-winning Broadway and international hit musical of the same name (2008 marks the fifth anniversary of the musical.) He is also the author of the best-sellers Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, Mirror Mirror, and Son of a Witch, the sequel to Wicked. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, a retelling of Cinderella set during the Dutch Golden Age, was made into an ABC movie starring Stockard Channing. A Lion Among Men, Maguire's third New York Times best-seller in the Wicked series, features the beloved character from The Wizard of Oz, the Cowardly Lion. Maguire's Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation (William Morrow), a magical visual tribute to the art of legendary Maurice Sendak, will be published in the fall of 2009. A popular speaker, Maguire has lectured at universities, libraries, and arts and culture institutions in the U.S. and abroad.
Maguire has also written several children’s novels including The Hamlet Chronicles, a seven-book series that includes Seven Spiders Spinning, Six Haunted Hairdos, Five Alien Elves, Four Stupid Cupids, Three Rotten Eggs, A Couple of April Fools, and One Final Firecracker. Though he is best known as a fantasy writer, he has also written picture books, science fiction, and realistic and historic fiction.
Maguire has been the recipient of several awards and fellowships. His fellowship residencies include: Blue Mountain Center, New York; the Hambidge Center, Georgia; The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts; and the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Vermont. In addition to writing, Maguire is a national figure in children’s literature education. From 1979 to 1986, he was a professor and associate director of the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College. Since 1986 he has been co-director and founding board member of Children’s Literature New England, Inc., a nonprofit that focuses attention on the significance of literature in the lives of children.
Maguire received his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Tufts University. He divides his time with his family between Massachusetts and Vermont.
Praise for Gregory Maguire’s Lectures
“Gregory Maguire’s combined talents of both writing and performance are unparalleled. He captivated our audience of 300, and the range of emotion during his reading ranged from laugh out loud humor during his reading from Leaping Beauty to breathless anticipation and wonder during his reading from Wicked. We could not have been more pleased with his appearance.”
—Maria Lockheardt, Executive Director of Worcester Public Library Foundation
“Both entertaining and thought-provoking, Gregory Maguire’s talk inspired my honor students and their guests to reflect on the place of narrative and literature in contemporary culture and in their own lives.”
—Mary Dockray-Miller, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English, Lesley University
"In the last two years I have been responsible for organizing the Writer's series at the library; Gregory Maguire's program was by far the best. His high energy, wit and deep thoughts about his work gained the awe and respect of the audience. It was also a treat to see an audience consisting of all ages enjoying themselves together."
— Andrea Herman, Head of Adult Services, Crandall Public Library
"On behalf of the Chester County Library Trust, we would highly recommend Gregory Maguire as a speaker. Gregory Maguire was absolutely fantastic. He was gracious and accommodating to our guests during and after our event. He truly held the audience's attention with humor and entertaining stories."
—Diane Gring, Public Relations, Chester County Library & District Center
"Gregory Maguire's appearance in the Hazelwood School District was nothing short of inspirational. In his remarks to students he shared his life story in a way that encouraged young people to write, to dream and to set high goals. His use of humor and his warm response to the students' questions made the presentation one they will never forget. Gregory Maguire has earned my highest praise: he is a wonderful teacher."
—Dr. Chris L. Wright, Superintendent, Hazelwood School District
"Gregory gave a performance rather than a mere talk. He was funny, charming and delightful. I was amazed at how warm and gracious he was in spite of a hard travel schedule. He was very kind and generous with his fans. We filled 500 seats and I heard some had to be turned away."
-- Beth Petrucci, Adult Services Librarian, Pima County Public Libraries
Praise for A Lion Among Men
“Much to savor, laugh at, and think about. . . . A page-turning fantasy and a timely political allegory.”
—USA Today
“So well-crafted that readers of all ages could enjoy witnessing Brrrr’s transformation from an insecure kitten in the woods to a compassionate, engaged ‘manimal.’”
—Christian Science Monitor
“The third book in Maguire’s Wicked Years is at once funny, charming, harrowing, bleak and incredibly beautiful.”
—The American Chronicle
“Maguire’s work is melodic, symphonic and beautiful; it is dejected and biting and brave. . . . In fabulous details and self-mocking language, Maguire displays his gift for whimsical portrayals of the broken, the powerless, the hopeless, the bad.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Engrossing... Maguire is a masterful storyteller with an uncanny flair for mixing political and personal while exploring what it means – and what it costs – to be accepted in a society.”
—New York Daily News
“The minute you open A Lion Among Men, you’re back in Maguire’s exquisitely detailed environment, caught up once again in his geography, his characters, his worldview, touched anew by the loneliness that lurks in the heart of all things.”
—New Orleans Times-Picayune
“This Oz goes far beyond L. Frank Baum’s; it’s as surreal as a dream, but as immaculately and impeccably detailed as history. Maguire’s wizardlike grasp over every aspect of this reinvented land rivals classic literary landscapes like Tolkien’s Middle Earth and Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County.”
—Albany Times Union
“Entertaining....The author mixes some relatively weighty existential themes—the search for self, faith, redemption—into his whimsical story line. [A] darkly enchanting saga”
—Publishers Weekly
“As usual, Maguire, a seasoned fabulist, populates his version of Oz with a cast of utterly fantastical characters who must face their own inner demons while tumult and uncertainty rages around them. An absolute must-read for fans of this ever-evolving dark fairy tale.”
—Booklist
Praise for Wicked
“I fell quickly and totally under the spell of this remarkable, wry, and fully realized story.”
—Wally Lamb, author of She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much is True
“An outstanding work of imagination.”
—USA Today
“A staggering feat of wordcraft ... would all books with this much innate commercial appeal were also this good.”
—Los Angeles Times
“Children – children of all ages, as Maguire reminds us in this splendid novel – need witches. Gregory Maguire has taken this figure of childhood fantasy and given her a sensual and powerful nature that will stir adult hearts with fear and longing all over again.”
—New Orleans Times-Picayune
“Gregory Maguire’s shrewdly imagined first novel... is part fantasy thriller, part psychological study, part political cautionary tale. It’s all fascinating. And it’s impossible to deny the magic of Gregory Maguire.”
—New York Newsday
Praise for Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
“[A] bewitching story... Confessions has its roots in a fanciful tale – the Cinderella story – but it teases out motifs deeper than the generic fall-in-love-and-marry-the-prince-happily-ever-after...”
—Fort Worth Morning Star-Telegram
“[An] arresting hybrid of mystery, fairy tale, and historical novel... Confessionsof an Ugly Stepsister isn’t easy to classify or forget... The characters in these Confessions might not end up happily ever after, but you won’t want to miss them.”
—Detroit Free Press
“A tale so movingly told that you will say at the end of the first reading, ‘It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book this good.’ For philosophical depth and lively evocative language, few writers match Gregory Maguire.”
—NashvilleTennessean
“Captivating and beautifully written... Confessions is a rich canvas of colorful characters and fantastic events rendered by an artist attentive to every surface and texture.”
—Book Magazine
Praise for Son of a Witch
“Maguire’s captivating, fully imagined world of horror and wonder illuminates the links between good and evil, retribution and forgiveness.”
—People
“As fantastical as a novel set in Oz should be.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Maguire is full of storytelling brio… his Oz is meticulously drawn.”
—New York Times
“A powerful cast of characters… Maguire has engaged in virtuoso fashion the very themes that turned what many considered a literary trifle into an American classic…”
—Los Angeles Times
“Maguire has done it again: Son of a Witch is as wicked as they come… Thoroughly entertaining.”
—Boston Globe
“An eloquent fable… A powerful work of fiction by an author working at the top of his game… Life in Oz seems absolutely real. This is fantasy for the non-fantasy reader.”
—Kansas City Star