reviews_and_ramblings | Gregory Maguire & Andy Newman

Gregory Maguire (born June 9, 1954) is an American writer. He is the author of the novels Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and many other novels for adults and children. Many of Maguire's adult novels are revisionist retellings of classic children's stories: for example, in Wicked he transformed the Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaption into the misunderstood protagonist Elphaba. Wicked was turned into a successful Broadway musical of the same name. One of Maguire's short stories is featured in the 2004 compilation Gothic! Ten Original Dark Tales.

Maguire was born in Albany, New York. He received his B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany and his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Tufts University. He was a professor and co-director at the Simmons College Center for the Study of Children's Literature from 1979 to 1985. In 1987 Maguire co-founded Children's Literature New England and he continues to serve as its co-director. He is also a board member of the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance a national not-for-profit that actively advocates for literacy, literature, and libraries.

Gregory Maguire and painter Andy Newman got married in 2004, just after same-sex marriage was legalized in Massachusetts. Gregory and Andy met at an art show. Gregory says he was taken with one of Andy's paintings immediately. "There was a painting of a person of great compassion circling and enfolding someone who needed help," he says. "I fell in love with Andy about two weeks after I fell in love with his painting."

Gregory Maguire, an American writer, author of the novels Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and painter Andy Newman got married in 2004. Gregory and Andy met at an art show. Gregory says he was taken with one of Andy's paintings immediately. "There was a painting of a person of great compassion circling and enfolding someone who needed help," he says. "I fell in love with Andy about two weeks after I fell in love with his painting."

As soon as their relationship got serious, they say they knew they wanted to be fathers. Together, Gregory and Andy adopted three children—Luke and Alex from Cambodia and Helen from Guatemala.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Maguire

Further Readings:

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked Years) by Gregory Maguire
Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; 1 Reissue edition (September 29, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061862312
ISBN-13: 978-0061862311
Amazon: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked?

Gregory Maguire has created a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again.

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel by Gregory Maguire
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reissue edition (September 28, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061960551
ISBN-13: 978-0061960550
Amazon: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

In the lives of children, pumpkins can turn into coaches, mice and rats into human beings. . . . When we grow up we learn that it's far more common for human beings to turn into rats.

We all have heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty . . . and what curses accompanied Cinderella's exquisite looks?

Set against the rich backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is a novel of beauty and betrayal, illusion and understanding, reminding us that deception can be unearthed—and love unveiled—in the most unexpected of places.

More LGBT Couples at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance