Great American theater started in a library

By Carrie Benseler

The Pruyn Library in Albany, New York, was Gregory Maguire’s first experience of the splendors of the public library system. As a child, Maguire claims to have spent hours immersed in the library’s collection of fairy tales and fantasy books. The Pruyn Library has since been demolished to make room for an interstate connector highway, but Maguire credits the public library of his youth with engaging his imagination, fueling a passion for literacy and effectively starting his writing career.

Gregory Maguire

Maguire hails from a family of writers, his father being a journalist and his mother a poet, and many of his siblings later became writers as well. Maguire became dedicated to reading and writing at an early age, composing more than a hundred stories and novels between the ages of 7 and 17.

“My childhood was very restricted,” says Maguire. “My parents did not let my brothers and sisters and I watch television. The public library and the benefits of reading were all I had to feast on.”

Maguire is the author of more than 15 children’s books and five books for adults, including his 1995 bestseller, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Thanks to the success of both the novel and the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Wicked, he’s been able to champion the importance of reading through speaking engagements, book signings and codirecting Children’s Literature New England, a nonprofit educational charity he established in 1987.

In addition, Maguire is now championing the importance of libraries through OCLC’s most recent public library advocacy campaign. The OCLC advocacy campaign was developed on behalf of libraries everywhere, aimed at library budget decision-makers. Through the campaign, OCLC hopes to raise awareness of critical library issues, enable more informed dialogue and ultimately help libraries demonstrate their value.

Maguire’s inspiring story is proof that rich imaginations can yield best-selling results. The latest advocacy ad showcases this aspect of libraries: as a career inspiration zone.

Q&A with Gregory Maguire

OCLC advocacy ad featuring Gregory McGuire.

Age  51

Why you love libraries  Libraries are the ultimate in hypermedia—a library is a maze that delivers you where you didn’t know you needed to be.

What motivates you  Liberty, fantasy, key lime pie

What are you passionate about  The rights of readers to read what they want, uninterrupted and unsurveyed.

Working style  Fuss, neaten, obsess, neaten, fuss, coffee, clean coffee rings off counter. Twenty minutes before the school bus is due to return with the kids, have brainstorm.

Best thing about libraries  The company one keeps! Cervantes, Matt Groening, Emily Dickinson, Roz Chwast, Tolkien, Tolstoi and the editorial boards of all the major newspapers in the United States!

Worst thing about libraries  Do they really have to close? What about 24/7 Libraries “R” Us?

Top three issues facing libraries  The video mesmorama eats into their appeal, for fiction anyway. Threats to the privacy of citizen readers. Libraries serve increasingly as a neighborhood’s prime center, instead of being one of several. Wear and tear is expensive.

The future of libraries  Secure—if we treasure them.

How your idea for Wicked came about  I became interested in the nature of evil, and whether one really could be born “bad.” When I realized that nobody had ever written about the second most evil character in our collective American subconscious (the first being Hitler), The Wicked Witch of the West, I thought I had experienced a small moment of inspiration.

Favorite authors  Jill Paton Walsh, Stona Fitch, Ron Hansen, T.H. White, L.M. Boston, Jane Langton.

Last nonfiction book read  Probably a biography of Lucretia Borgia.

Last fiction book read  Old Filth by Jane Gardam.

Favorite T.V. show  The West Wing—because it has Stockard Channing and Kristin Chenoweth, both of whom have appeared in adaptations of my novels.

Last movie seen  Bad Education by Almodóvar. Also, The Wedding Singer, on tape.

Type of music  Chopin nocturnes, Bach keyboard (on piano only), Brian Eno’s Music for Airports.

Significant life experience  Hmm. Adopting my three children from Cambodia and Guatemala.

Hobbies  Frequenting used bookstores.

Tips for library advocacy  Discuss—with enthusiasm—what you read, at every opportunity.

Memorable library experience  Spying on unsuspecting patrons when I was 10 years old, and being convinced I was Harriet the Spy. Not at what they were reading—just on them. So my aversion to Homeland Security’s threat to the privacy of patrons of libraries is a guilty response to earlier transgressions of my own.

A great idea for libraries  Social evenings with music, beverages and books. 10-minute “best of” readings (my favorite poem, etc.).

Greatest achievement  Fatherhood. A Broadway musical inspired by my novel is an acceptable runner-up.

Why reading and libraries are important  To ensure the survival of a humane and literate society.

Where your ideas come from  Other books (don’t tell). Dreams. My boring life. My not-so-boring imagination.

Do libraries need fundamental change? Why or why not?  The computer revolution must happen; it must not displace the book, though—and won’t.

What was your reaction when you heard your book would become a musical?  I had cautious optimism that it might find an appreciative audience.

What was it like seeing your book transformed into a musical?  Magic! Sheer, unadulterated magic.

How do you like the musical?  I adore it and have seen it 15 times.

About Gregory Maguire

Gregory Maguire holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Art from The State University of New York and a Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Tufts University. He is a founder and codirector of Children’s Literature New England, Inc., a nonprofit educational charity established in 1987. His work as a consultant in creative writing for children has taken him to speaking engagements at conferences and schools across the United States and abroad. Maguire writes book reviews for the New York Times, The Horn Book Magazine and other journals. He has received honors and awards for his books from literary organizations, such as the National Council of Teachers of English and the American Library Association.

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