In Conversation: Podcasts, Interviews, and Live Events
Appearances
Marilyn F. Moriarty takes to the stage and the airwaves, sharing her lyrical, evocative storytelling with audiences in person and online. Through storytelling sessions, podcasts, readings, and radio interviews, she speaks about the craft of creative nonfiction and the experiences that shape her work. With warmth, wit, and wisdom, Moriarty draws listeners into stories of love, loss, memory, and transformation.
Marilyn’s essay, “You Are Where You Eat,” appears in The Dirty Spoon Radio Hour episode 4, which aired on August 3, 2018.
Marilyn Moriarty’s interview beautifully intertwines personal history, cultural identity, and the role of food in defining one’s roots. Through her journey to France in search of her mother’s past, she discovers that being French encompasses ancestry, along with a deep connection to the country’s land and traditions. Her cousins, Annie and Christian, test her Frenchness through food, offering her snails, pigeon, duck, and, most importantly, cheese.
The narrative also highlights the A.O.C. system, or appellation d’origine contrôlée, which protects the authenticity of regional products such as Roquefort and Camembert and reflects the French reverence for terroir. As Moriarty navigates the complex layers of her identity, both adopted and deeply connected to her French lineage, she finds acceptance through taste, memory, and shared experience. Her willingness to embrace the strongest, most pungent cheese secures her place at the table and suggests that identity can be shaped through lived experience as much as inheritance.
In a tale that will have you laughing out loud, Marilyn Moriarty recounts the time, at the tender age of twenty, when her youthful naivety nearly turned her into an unwitting accomplice in a prison break. What began as a harmless pen-pal exchange with Vincent, an inmate at Rayford Prison, spiralled into a full-blown adventure when, during a lunch meeting, Vincent pulled a knife and forced her into a high-speed getaway.
With perfect comedic timing, Moriarty describes her confusion and disbelief as she tried to understand whether she was a victim, a fool, or perhaps a little of both. Years later, her father’s deadpan response added another layer of humor: “Next time you’re arrested, do it closer to home.” It is a story of youthful folly, unexpected danger, and the kind of life lesson that only hindsight and a good sense of humor can bring.
Hoot and Holler Comebacks - Marilyn Moriarty
In her signature hilarious style, Marilyn Moriarty turns a ghost story into a comedy of supernatural errors. After a late-night encounter with what she is certain was a ghost, she blurts out, “I’ve been seeing things,” and receives the reassuringly vague reply, “I believe that you believe you saw something.” Her doctor offers a more practical explanation: “That’s normal for your age. They’re called floaters.”
Still searching for clarity, Moriarty schedules an eye exam and leaves with even more questions. Since she is adopted, she also wonders whether one of those ghostly visitors might have been a long-lost ancestor dropping by uninvited. With perfect timing and sharp wit, Moriarty finds humor in the paranormal. Watch the performance below to discover what really went bump in the night.
Hike Her Story
Stay tuned for Marilyn F. Moriarty's musings on life, literature, and the power of humor as she scales heights - quite literally.