Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
Before they were Glinda the Good and The Wicked Witch of the West, Galinda and Elphaba were college roommates in the land of Oz. The Blockbuster movie “Wicked” which debuted in theaters November 22, 2024, follows the two young witches as they learn more about their powers and the all-powerful and all-knowing Wizard.
The movie is an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name which was in turn based on the novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” written by Gregory Maguire.
Six years before the release of the novel, Maguire visited Marlinton Middle School and Pocahontas County High School to talk with English students.
Marlinton Middle School students were learning about mythology and the school librarian hosted a writing contest on the subject. She liked the book “The Dream Stealer” because it had a story set in Russia that incorporated Russian mythological characters.
The book was out of print at the time and so the librarian contacted Maguire and asked him if he could supply copies of the book for school.
Maguire was interested in the writing contest and agreed to loan 15 books to the school and offered to be a judge of the writing contest.
After reading the books and doing a little research, about 50 students wrote essays which were sent to Maguire to judge. The author picked the best nine essays from the fifth and sixth grades and the six best from the seventh and eighth grades.
Those students were selected to have a writing workshop with him when he came to visit.
On May 10, 1989, Maguire visited with the ESSH class at PCHS where he talked to the students about tragedy, mythology and writing. From there, he traveled to MMS where he held a school-wide assembly.
Maguire told the story of Vasilisa and Baba-Yaga and talked about how one of his dreams was the basis for writing the book featuring those characters.
The students who had a private writing workshop with Maguire were Leanna Alderman, Sara Peacock, Oak Hall, Chris Gibson, Joanna Burt-Kinderman, Shenda Smith, Mike Gibson, Jason Shinaberry, Randy Wilfong, Kevin Hickman, Donna Watson, Sarah Burt-Kinderman, Hollie McDaniel, Christina Jackson and Laura Hefner.
After the workshop, all the students returned to the gym where Maguire announced the two students who won the grand prize in the writing contest. Leanna Alderman and Donna Watson each received $100 cash for their essays. The cash prize was donated by a local physician.
In the report shared and printed in The Pocahontas Times, it said Maguire “was excited about doing a workshop where everyone had read his book ahead of time and said it was one of the best times he ever had at a school (he’s been to hundreds).”
Information from The Pocahontas Times Archives
