Mary Fogarty

Mary Fogarty's personal motto, taken from Shakespeare, is "First of all to thine own self BE true." By bringing honesty to a new level as an activist, advocate, artist, poet, public speaker and teacher, she learned to surround herself with mavericks, dissidents, adventurers, rebels and outsiders who asked questions, bent the rules, took risks and wrote about justice, loyalty, freedom, violence, death, politics and social/spiritual issues.

As a resident and exchange student in the 1970s Ms. Fogarty lived in and toured Canada, Brazil, Poland, Finland, Australia and New Zealand. Exposure to a rich variety of cultures provided the settings for her creative work as a writer.

She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts and a Master of Science Degree in Education but more than degrees she found it best not to let formal education get in the way of her learning. So as a single mom, stepmom, foster mom, grandmom she became a mentor, teacher, artist, activist and author. In works of two of her books, "A Crone's Crossing" (2001) and "Vintage Woman" (2003) she won several writing contests including First Place from Writers International Forum in 1998 and Second Honors in 1999.