Judith Ann Moriarty's new book, called "A
Fairy-Tale," is true. Well, almost all true.
"Actually, the ticket lady at the Rialto did hang herself, a baker actually did fall into a batch of whirling dough and yes, there was an ax murderer who slaughtered eight sleeping," says the 67-year-old artist and writer, referencing characters from her tale.
Moriarty celebrates the release of "A Fairy-Tale" and displays her visual art at Voss Books, 229 N. Water St., for Gallery Night and Day, July 23-24.
It took Moriarty four years to write the tale, and she struggled with the ending and whether or not to conclude with a moral.
"I decided there is no moral. In the end, life is what it is," she says. "There's nothing as wonderful as a hair-raising saga where things don't necessarily end well. Does life end well? I don't think so. Isn't that why we stage elaborate funerals and rituals to make all seem 'well?'"
Moriarty says she cut her teeth on tales from The Brothers Grimm and the "awfulness of Hans Christian Andersen stuff." Now a grandmother, she has shared her favorites like Andersen's "The Snow Queen" with her 4-year-old grandson, Thomas.
"He can't read, but he's intrigued by the creepy illustrations in my circa 1940s copy," she says.
Moriarty has been painting since the '70s and has shown her work in a variety of galleries. She is also a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in many local publications, from the slick to the salty.
"I grew up in the age of letter writing, during World War II, when folks kept in touch by putting pen to paper," she says.
Moriarty grew up in Iowa and says her self-published fairy tale, although exaggerated, was inspired by her real life. As a child, she learned a lot about life by going on house calls with her father who was a country doctor, often accepting payment in the form of chickens and eggs.
"In retrospect my life in the Nodaway Valley in southwestern Iowa seems much like a fairy tale. Not without thorns, however," she says.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
