Gregory Maguire

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. He is also the author of the best-sellers Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, Mirror Mirror, and the Wicked Years novels that, besides Wicked, include A Lion Among Men, Son of a Witch, and the final novel in the series, Out of Oz (William Morrow). A popular keynote speaker, Maguire has lectured at universities, libraries, and arts and culture institutions in the U.S. and abroad.

In Out of Oz, the world of the Wicked Years comes full circle as the marvelous land of Oz is knotted with social unrest. The Emerald City is busy mounting an invasion of Munchkinland. Glinda is under house arrest. The Cowardly Lion is on the run from the law. And who shows up for a return visit but Dorothy. Yes, that Dorothy. Amidst all this chaos, Elphaba's granddaughter, the tiny green baby who's born at the end of Son of a Witch, comes of age. Out of Oz follows the journey of the little girl, Rain, as she takes up her broom in an Oz wracked by war.

Maguire's other books include The Next Queen of Heaven (William Morrow), a farcical and imaginative novel set on the eve of Y2K, and Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation (William Morrow), a visual tribute to the art of legendary Maurice Sendak. 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.

Out of Oz: The Creation of the Wicked Series

Art and Culture

The Significance of Literature in Children’s Lives