A “Wicked” Celebration

This month is the tenth anniversary of the Broadway sensation, “Wicked,” based on the book by Gregory Maguire. Writer Maguire created a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability, and the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba will grow up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.. Having sold three-quarters of a million copies since its 1995 publication, Wicked enjoyed a second life as a big-budget Broadway musical. “Wicked, The Musical” is celebrating its tenth anniversary this month.

The Camden Public Library joins in the Wicked celebration by hosting a personal appearance by the author, Gregory Maguire, at the Camden Opera House, on Thursday evening, November 21, at 7:00 pm. Maguire’s Camden appearance, “A Wicked Evening with Gregory Maguire,” is a collaboration with the Farnsworth Museum’s “Land of Oz” events beginning in October and continuing through March.

Tickets for the November 21 event are available at the library and online at www.librarycamden.org/shop. The ticket price is $15, with a special package price of $25 which includes a copy of Wicked and the book-signing reception to follow the talk.

Since the publication of his first novel in 1978, Gregory Maguire has been a popular speaker at schools, bookstores, and conferences all across the United States. He has led workshops in creative writing for children and for adults. Nearly all of his presentations, for children and adults alike, touched at least in part on the experiences Mr. Maguire had in his formative years. The Wicked series appeals to adults and young adults.

As a child Maguire was dedicated to reading and writing. He composed more than a hundred stories and novels between the ages of seven and seventeen, and he often shows slides illustrating the development of his illustrations—and, by extension, his storytelling prowess—as a way to encourage writers of all ages to “grab authority—as an author.”

Maguire received his Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Tufts University. His work as a consultant in creative writing for children has taken him to speaking engagements across the United States and abroad. He is a founder and codirector of Children’s Literature New England, Incorporated, a non-profit educational charity established in 1987. Mr. Maguire is also a contributor to Am I Blue?: Coming Out From the Silence, a collection of short stories for gay and lesbian teenagers.

Other “Oz” events at the library include a talk by John Fricke, author of The Wonderful World of Oz: An Illustrated History of an American Classic, recently re-published by Down East Books. Fricke is a historian/author on The Wizard of Oz and Judy Garland. He has been a major figure in the Oz community for many years. Tik Tok, the robot featured in the Oz books, will be on display at the library, on loan from the Oz collection of Tom Wilhite and Willard Carroll.

The final volume in Maguire’s Wicked books was published just two years ago. Out of Oz brilliantly reimagined L. Frank Baum’s world over the rainbow as wracked with social unrest—placing Glinda the good witch under house arrest and having the cowardly Lion a fugitive from the law as the Emerald City prepares to make war on Munchkinland. Even Dorothy makes a triumphant return in Maguire’s magnificent Oz finale—tying up every loose green end of the series he began with his classic Wicked. Amidst all this chaos, Elphaba’s granddaughter, the tiny green baby born at the close of Son of a Witch, has come of age.

The series has been hailed as “bewitching,” “remarkable,” “extraordinary,” “engrossing,” “amazing,” and “delicious.” It is a sophisticated fantasy cycle inspired by the classic Oz books.