“Wicked” author, Maguire, promotes newest book at the National Book Festival

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Every year, the National Book Festival plays host to both well-known and local authors. Gregory Maguire was one of dozens of authors to make an appearance at this year’s festival held on the National Mall. Maguire, best known as the author of “Wicked”, was there to promote his upcoming book due for release in November, “Out of Oz: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years.”

Maguire’s “Wicked Years” have been enormously successful, with the first book, “Wicked,” adapted into a Broadway musical. “Wicked” tells the story of The Wizard of Oz from the point of view of the Wicked Witch of the West. Two more books followed, “Son of a Witch” and “A Lion Among Men.” In “Out of Oz,” the story follows characters Maguire created, including Dorothy Gale, and the political struggles of Oz. Maguire is also well-known for his children’s stories.

Maguire was scheduled for Saturday at the National Book Festival. This was the first year the festival spanned two days. Maguire’s appearance at the Fiction and Mystery pavilion was at 11:50 a.m. He greeted the full tent and apologized for his intention to read several pages from his newest book. Event officials had encouraged authors not to read too much from passages, preferring them to answer questions. Maguire read the prologue from “Out of Oz,” which detailed Dorothy Gale’s inability to adjust to life after Oz, in spite of her aunt and uncle’s best efforts. Maguire’s roots as a children’s story writer lent itself well to his animated delivery.

Following the reading, Maguire answered questions. Regarding the inspiration for “Wicked”, Maguire relayed how he became interested in the nature of evil and whether one could be born truly bad. He briefly considered writing on Hitler, but dismissed that idea. “I realized that nobody had ever written about the second most evil character in our collective American subconscious, the Wicked Witch of the West,” Maguire said.

Maguire’s book signing was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. By the time Maguire arrived at the tent to begin signing, the line had become so long event coordinators had created a second, third and fourth line simply to accommodate the number of people waiting. Many of the people in line had left his pavilion appearance early to secure their place. Because of the volume of people and the limited time for signing, Maguire did not do personalized messages in books, but there was no limit placed on how many books he would sign. Readers and fans were rewarded for their patience with the opportunity to have their picture taken with Maguire as he signed their books.

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