“How can we close our door to a fairy story?

How can we close our door to a wonder tale?

How, having once heard it, can we ever forget a wonder tale?”

Throughout his adult life John Moriarty used writing as a way to understand the world and his place in it. Eleven of John’s books were published in his final thirteen years. Two volumes of autobiography, Nostos (2001) and What the Curlew Said: Nostos Continued (2007), set John’s thinking in the context of his life’s journey. 

The central project of John’s literary life – interrogating the myths and stories at the heart of Western culture – was undertaken across six major works. These are Dreamtime (1999), Night Journey to Buddh Gaia (2006) and the ‘Turtle’ trilogy: Turtle was Gone a Long Time: Volume 1, Crossing the Kedron (1996), Turtle was Gone a Long Time: Volume 2: Horsehead Nebula Neighing (1997) and Turtle was Gone a Long Time: Volume 3: Anaconda Canoe (1998). In Invoking Ireland (2005), as the title suggests, John pays sustained attention to myths pertaining to Ireland. 

In his final three years, John published a number of shorter works. Slí na Fírinne (2006) elaborates upon his plans to establish a Christian Monastic Hedge School in County Kerry. Serious Sounds (2006) is a meditation on the Christian sacramental journey through life. Urbi et Orbi (2006) is a short dramatic dialogue rooted in Greek mythology. 

A number of John’s recorded talks are commercially available. One Evening in Eden (2007) is a set of fifteen CDs, an expansive showcase of John’s thought in audio format. Celtic Spirituality (c. 2001) presents a four CD recording of John’s presentation to a symposium on Celtic spirituality in Glendalough around the year 2000.  

There are a number of recordings of John’s talks and presentations in private hands and, as yet, not available commercially at the moment. In 1997 John presented a series for RTÉ (the Irish national broadcaster) called The Blackbird and the Bell. This is not, at the moment, available in the public domain.