As a kid growing up in Albany, Gregory Maguire spent countless hours at the Pine Hills library. Without access to TV shows and movies (he said his parents were unsually strict for the ’60s), he would get lost in the stacks at the library.
It just seemed a treasure trove of adventure, Maguire said.
Maguire’s early love of the written word translated into a career, He published his first book, the children’s story `The Lightning Time,` in 1978, and today, he is best known as the author of the `Wicked` series, which focuses on the Wicked Witch of the West from the `Wizard of Oz.` The first book in the series has sold more than 1 million copies and been turned into a Tony-award winning Broadway musical.
Maguire will to be the keynote speaker at the inaugural Empire State Book Festival, being held Saturday, April 10, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Empire State Plaza. The workshop will feature author talks, panel discussions, storytelling and writing workshops.
Maguire has plenty of praise for the festival, but noted he most likely wouldn’t have signed on if it were being held in, say, Buffalo or Rochester.
`Albany is dear to me,` he said. `The Albany library and schools gave me the skills and background to succeed as a writer. I love to be able to pay it back.`
Festival organizers, meanwhile, hope the event will help point aspiring writers on that same path to success, as well as enable people of all ages to meet and greet some of their favorite authors.
`We’re turning the base of the Egg into a literary salon,` festival chairman Rocco Staino said.
The idea is to make the Empire State Plaza reminiscent of well-known book festivals in other parts of the country, such as `New York is Book Country` in New York City. Held annually on Fifth Avenue, that event inspired New York Library Association Executive Director Mike Borges to put together the Empire State Book Festival.
Borges said he lived in New York City in the late 1980s and always enjoyed `New York is Book Country,` so he approached state Sen. Neil Breslin, D-Delmar, about securing funding for a similar festival. Breslin was enthusiastic and helped secure some money, Borges said, and sponsors pledged additional funds, which helped ensure there will be no admission fee.
`Most book festivals are free,` Borges noted. He then added with a laugh, `We’re always looking for donations.`
While the festival itself is free, there is another component to the weekend that carries a price tag. On Friday, April 9, the New York Library Association will induct the first members to the New York Writers Hall of Fame at the Crown Plaza in Albany. Tickets for the invitation-only gala are $75.
Borges said there are all kinds of other halls of fame in this country, but this is the first writer’s hall of fame.
`There’s no way to recognize the contributions of some of our most famous authors from New York state,` he said.
The 12 inductees are being recognized for their lasting contributions to literature. There are 10 late authors: James Baldwin, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Caro, Fredrick Douglass, Mary Gordon, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Issac B. Singer, Edith Wharton, E.B. White and Walt Whitman. The two living writers, Robert Caro and Mary Gordon, are scheduled to attend the gala.
Staino said the committee that selected the inductees went through several rounds of blind, weighted voting.
`We discussed many, many authors,` he said. `These were the people that came out on top.`
Since the state has such a rich literary history, it was inevitable that some big names, such as James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Iriving, didn’t make the initial cut, Staino said. But they can certainly be inducted in future years.
Perhaps the hall of fame will even one day include Maguire, who admits to being `absolutely stunned` by the success of `Wicked.`
Just as the book hit it big, Maguire was immersing himself in parenthood, and he credits tasks like changing diapers and teaching his kids the alphabet with keeping him grounded.
`Young children train your mind away from personal success,` he said. `I think that if that didn’t happen, I would have become insufferably proud.`
Today, Maguire’s three children `are just grazing the teenage years,` and he said it’s even more important to spend time with them. As such, he travels less these days then he once did, spending most of his time at his home in Massachusetts. He’s busy working on the fourth and final volume of `Wicked,` tentatively called `Out of Oz.`
Maguire will speak at 10 a.m. For information, visit www.empirestatebookfestival.org.
“
