Alice Hoffman
Alice Hoffman (born March 16, 1952) is an American novelist and young-adult and children's writer, best known for her 1995 novel Practical Magic, which was adapted for a 1998 film of the same name and went on to spawn a media franchise. Many of her works fall into the genre of magic realism and contain elements of magic, irony, and non-standard romances and relationships.
Alice Hoffman

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- Name
- Alice Hoffman
- Born
- 16 March 1952
- Birthplace
- New York City, U.S.
- Occupation
- * Novelist
- Nationality
- United States
- Fields
- magic realism · romance
- Education
- Stanford University · Adelphi University · Valley Stream North High School
- Honours
- Hammett Prize
- Languages
- English
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Authority files
wikidata · Q452722 · wikipedia · Alice Hoffman
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Alice Hoffman • Born — 16 March 1952 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Occupation — * Novelist • young-adult writer • children's writer • Alma Mater — Adelphi University (BA) Stanford University (MA) • Period — 1977–present • Genre — Magic realism, fantasy, historical fiction • Website — alicehoffman.com
Early life and education
Early life and education
Alice Hoffman was born in New York City and raised on Long Island, New York. Her grandmother was a Russian-Jewish immigrant. She graduated from Valley Stream North High School in 1969, and then from Adelphi University with a Bachelor of Arts. She was a Mirrielees Fellow at the Stanford University Creative Writing Center in 1973 and 1974, where she earned a Master of Arts in Creative Writing.
Career
Career
When Hoffman was twenty-one and studying at Stanford, her first short story, "At the Drive-In", was published in Volume 3 of the literary magazine Fiction. Editor Ted Solotaroff contacted her, and asked whether she had a novel. At that point, she began writing her first novel, Property Of. It was published in 1977, by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, now a division of Macmillan Publishers. A section of Property Of was published in Solotaroff's literary magazine, American Review. Hoffman's first job was at Doubleday, which later published two of her novels. She was the recipient of a New Jersey Notable Book Award for Ice Queen. She won a Hammett Prize for Turtle Moon. She wrote the screenplay for the 1983 film Independence Day, starring Kathleen Quinlan and Dianne Wiest. In September 2019 Hoffman released The World That We Knew based on a true story told to her by a fan at a book signing. The woman confided to Hoffman that during World War 2, her Jewish parents had her live with non-Jewish people to escape the Nazis. These were known as "hidden children" and Hoffman thought about this woman and her unusual upbringing for years before deciding to travel to Europe and learn more. The third novel in her "Practical Magic" series, Magic Lessons, was released in October 2020. This prequel takes place in the 17th century and explores the life of Maria Owens, the family matriarch. For Scholastic Press, Hoffman has also written the young adult novels Indigo, Green Angel, and its sequel, Green Witch. With her son Wolfe Martin, she wrote the picture book Moondog. In 2015, Hoffman donated her archives to her alma mater, Adelphi University.
Personal life
Personal life
Hoffman resides in Boston. After being treated for breast cancer at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, she helped establish the hospital's Hoffman Breast Center.
Novels
Novels
• Property Of (1977) • The Drowning Season (1979) • Angel Landing (1980) • White Horses (1982) • Fortune's Daughter (1985) • Illumination Night (1987) • At Risk (1988) • Seventh Heaven (1990) • Turtle Moon (1992) • Second Nature (1994) • Practical Magic (1995) • Here on Earth (1997) • Local Girls (1999) • The River King (2000) • Blue Diary (2001) • The Probable Future (2003) • Blackbird House (2004) • The Ice Queen (2005) • Skylight Confessions (2007) • The Third Angel (2008) • The Story Sisters (2009) • The Red Garden (2011) • The Dovekeepers (2011) • The Museum of Extraordinary Things (2014) • The Marriage of Opposites (2015) • Faithful (2016) • The Rules of Magic (2017) – prequel to Practical Magic • The World That We Knew (2019) • Magic Lessons (2020) – prequel to Practical Magic • The Book of Magic (2021) – sequel to Practical Magic • The Invisible Hour (2023) • When We Flew Away (2024) • The Witches of Cambridge (2026)
Young adult novels
Young adult novels
• Aquamarine (2001) • Indigo (2002) • Green Angel (2003) • Water Tales: Aquamarine & Indigo (omnibus edition) (2003) • The Foretelling (2005) • Incantation (2006) • Green Witch (sequel to Green Angel) (2010) • Green Heart (omnibus of Green Angel & Green Witch) (2012)
Short stories
Short stories
• Conjure (2014) • The once upon a time bookshop series (2025) • City Girl (2025)
Nonfiction
Nonfiction
• Survival Lessons (2013)
Filmography
Filmography
• Independence Day (1983) (writer) • Practical Magic (1998) (novel) • Sudbury (2004) (novel) • The River King (2005) (novel) • Aquamarine (2006) (novel) • The Dovekeepers (2014) (novel) • Practical Magic 2 (2026) (from novel The Book of Magic)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1952
Alice Hoffman born at New York City.
Middle grade books
Middle grade books
• Nightbird (2015)
Children's books
Children's books
• Fireflies: A Winter's Tale (illustrated by Wayne McLoughlin) (1999) • Horsefly (paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher) (2000) • Moondog (with Wolfe Martin; illustrated by Yumi Heo) (2004)
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Alice Hoffman, revision 1375094343 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Interview with Alice Hoffman
- 2."Profile: Alice Hoffman." Musleah, Rahel. Hadassah Magazine. Published June–July 2008. Accessed January 5, 2017.
- 3.Fischler, Marcelle. People Who Live in (Fictional) Glass Houses Populate a New Novel. New York Times. January 7, 2007.
- 4.Alice Hoffman. Alice Hoffman Bio. AliceHoffman.com.
- 5.City College of New York. Published Authors List. Fiction.
- 6.New Jersey Center for the Book. 2005: New Jersey Notable Books, 1995–2005.
- 7.Hammett Prize. Crime For Dinner. 8 February 2015.
- 8.Hewitt, Chris. Write My Story: A Stranger's Please Inspired Alice Hoffman's New Novel. Star Tribune.
- 9.Lepucki, Edan. When Witches Run in the Family. The New York Times. 2020-10-06. 0362-4331.
- 10.Alice Hoffman interview 2019. Book Browse.
- 11.Alice Hoffman Biography. Scholastic.
- 12.Adelphi University Acquires Literary Papers of Author and Alumna Alice Hoffman '73. Adelphi University.
- 13.Hoffman, Alice. WRITERS ON WRITING; Sustained By Fiction While Facing Life's Facts (Published 2000). The New York Times. 2000-08-14. 0362-4331.
- 14.The Hoffman Breast Center - Cambridge, MA - Mount Auburn Hospital. www.mountauburnhospital.org.
- 15.Franklin, Ruth. Book Review: 'When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary,' by Alice Hoffman. The New York Times. 2024-10-18.
- 16.Miller, Kerri. Talking Volumes: Alice Hoffman on 'When We Flew Away'. MPR News. 2024-09-27.
References
Citations
References
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Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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