NY Times profiles Gregory Maguire

You might not recognize Gregory Maguire's name, much less his picture, but you've almost certainly at least heard of his work. The openly gay writer penned the novel Wicked, a retelling of the life of the Wicked Witch of the West (the one from Oz) that was transformed into the smash Broadway musical of the same name. Maguire has written dozens of books, both for adults and children. Personally, I couldn't get through Wicked, but loved Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, a retelling of the Cinderella story. Pretty much all of Maguire's work is based on fairy tales and Sunday's NY Times' Magazine explains why. Maguire has very interesting things to say about his mother dying while giving birth to him, how the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz influenced his view of Vietnam, and how his three adopted children view their family. On that score, Maguire says:

...none of his children have asked why they have two dads and no mom. "Luke, in particular, knows that most families have a dad and a mom," Maguire said. "But he thinks we're really nice guys and we're sharp about some things, but none too swift about what the family makeup should be, and he's too polite to mention that one of us is supposed to be a woman. Of course, if he ever rocked the boat and pointed it out, that might mean one of us would leave. I used to say this as a joke, and like most jokes the more I said it, the more I thought, I bet there's some truth to it.

I also found it interesting to learn more about Maguire's partner of ten years, Andy Newman, a former attorney turned artist. What really caught my attention was that Newman, previously married, had never thought of himself as gay until he met Maguire and fell in love. Newman says he had to do forty eight hours of real soul searching to decide to follow his heart in a very unexpected way. It's a terrific piece and you should check it out!