Gregory Maguire, American author
Gregory Maguire (born June 9, 1954) 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 Maguire's adult novels are inspired by classic children's stories; Wicked transforms the Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum's 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation into the misunderstood green-skinned Elphaba Thropp. The blockbuster 2003 Broadway musical Wicked was inspired by Maguire's first novel for adults. Written by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, the musical is currently Broadway's fifth longest-running show (surpassing Les Misérables on October 28, 2019), and at its peak nine companies ran simultaneously around the world.