Paul Quarrington

In May 2009, Paul was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.  From May 2009 to January 2010 he channeled his prodigious creative energy into the completion of many artistic endeavours, including his first solo CD release, the third PorkBellys Futures CD release, his memoir “Cigar Box Banjo” for Greystone Books, the documentary film inspired by the book, “Paul Quarrington: Life in Music” (BookShorts / CTV Bravo) and so much more.

His brave journey ended on January 21, 2010.  He passed peacefully at home in Toronto in the early hours surrounded by friends and family. It is comforting to know that he didn’t suffer; he was calm and quiet holding hands with friends and family.

The Quarrington Arts Society has been established in honour of the inspiration Paul’s life and work continues to provide for artists who seek expression in many disciplines - for information about the organization and its mandate, please visit http://www.quarringtonartsociety.ca

Paul Quarrington was a musician, acclaimed non-fiction writer and novelist, an award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, and an educator extra-ordinaire.  His novel The Ravine (2008) was long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize; his previous novel Galveston (2004) was short-listed for the Giller.  Quarrington won the Stephen Leacock Award for King Leary, a title that also won the 2008 Canada Reads competition. Whale Music won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction and was one of several of his novels already adapted or currently being adapted as feature films. His non-fiction writing includes books on some of his favourite pastimes such as fishing, hockey and music; his memoir about his life in music, Cigar Box Banjo, will be published by Greystone Books in May 2010. He regularly contributed book reviews, travel columns and journalism to Canada’s national newspapers and magazines. His screenplays and story editing won many awards, including the CFPTA Indie Award for Comedy for the series Moose TV.  Throughout his career he was in high demand as a story editor for Canadian and American feature films and television. Paul’s filmmaking talents as writer / director are evident in his BookShorts short film, Pavane (2008), which he adapted from his novel The Ravine; it was featured in the national tour of Moving Stories Film Festival, won a Remi Platinum Award for adaptation at WorldFest, was juried in several US festivals, and was broadcast in Canada on Bravo!FACT Presents and CBC Reflections. As a musician, he played in the band PorkBelly Futures for more than ten years; the first CD Way Past Midnight was extremely well received, their self-titled second CD was released to even more popular acclaim; and a third release will be available in 2010. Over the past couple of years, Paul increasingly returned to the performance circuit as solo vocalist on guitar; his first solo CD release will be available in May 2010. Paul taught creative writing at Humber College for more than 20 years (in the program founded by Joe Kertes, Quarrington and colleague Wayson Choy were founding teachers); he also taught at University of Toronto.  He sat on the Board of Directors for the Fringe Theatre Festival, and was mentor to BookShorts Inc. since the company’s first short film release (2005) through to the company’s production of Paul’s biographical feature film Life in Music (Dir. Bert Kish, for CTV Bravo) which will be completed in Spring 2010. Quarrington enjoyed his ranking as an (extremely) amateur magician and would-be mariner.  He is survived by his two children, Carson Lara and Flannery.

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