Paul Quarrington Life in Music nominated for Directors Guild Award

The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) has announced its nominees for this year’s awards ceremony, with 76 nominations in 19 categories emerging from close to 175 submissions.

Four projects are up for the Allan King Award for Excellence in Documentary: Bert Kish’s Paul Quarrington Life in Music; Sturla Gunnarsson’s Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie; Mike Downie’s One Ocean: The Birth of an Ocean; and Josh Freed’s Where Did I Put My Memory?

Kish states,  “I grew up with the NFB in Montreal. My father, Albert Kish, was an editor/director there for over 25 years. The NFB’s original mandate was to present Canada to Canadians; when producer Judith Keenan approached me to do the Quarrington film I thought Paul was a Canadian that needed to be presented to Canada because of his unique voice and remarkable talents.   I hope we achieved that with this with the film, and that it helps Paul`s amazingly broad portfolio of creative work – novels, memoirs, journalism, music, film and television -  enjoy the legacy it deserves.”

The DGC Awards take place in Toronto on October 29, 2011 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.  Director Bert Kish will be in attendance.  For more about the film, visit http://bookshorts.com/pq_life_in_music/

Paul Quarrington Life in Music Doc Wins Gold Remi at Houston WorldFest

Out of more than 4,300 international category entries in the 10 major Remi Award Competitions, WorldFest-Houston, the third longest-running International Film Festival in North America, announced its roster of Award winners this week.  PAUL QUARRINGTON LIFE IN MUSIC garnered a Gold Remi in the category of Biography Feature.  The film is a production of BookShorts Inc., in collaboration with Bravo!, a division of CTV with the support of Canada Media Fund.  It was directed by Bert Kish and Executive Produced/Produced by Judith Keenan, with Executive Producer William Laurin and Bravo executive Charlotte Engel. For complete credits, trailers, and to purchase the DVD, visit http://www.bookshorts.com/pq_life_in_music

The documentary is an intimate portrait of an amazingly talented artist who is given a life sentence by one of the most ubiquitous diseases of our age – cancer.  Diagnosed at stage 4 (there is no stage 5), his lung cancer gave Quarrington only ten months to live.  But live he did, pouring his heart, soul and emotions into a host of creative projects: he toured the country and recorded a new album with his band Porkbelly Futures; made his first solo album called The Songs; finished writing his memoir Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Life and Music; completed scripts for a dramatic series and a screenplay for feature film.  And of course he made this documentary film, capturing all of these endeavours on camera.

Though the filmmakers do hope to inspire audiences to live life to the full by sharing  Paul’s journey, the film is steadfastly not a “cancer film.”  There are no hospital shots or doctor’s diagnoses.  Instead, the audience witnesses an artist at the height of his creative process, delivering his story with humour, candour and poignant insight.  As Paul says himself, he wants his audiences to cry through their laughter, and laugh through their tears – that’s when a person is truly open to all the incredible experiences life has to offer, be it one year, or one hundred years long.

Hunter Todd, Chairman & Founding Director in his correspondence to the winners, states “It is very difficult to win a Remi in WorldFest… with so many entries, only about 15-20% are good enough to win the Award for Creative Excellence. In some categories, sometimes no awards are made because the entries that year did not score high enough to earn a Remi Award. My personal congratulations for a job very well done.”

WorldFest, founded as an International Film Society in August 1961, became the third competitive international film festival in North America, following San Francisco and New York.  WorldFest evolved into a competitive International Film Festival in April 1968 and has a long list of “discovered” film greats such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, David Lynch, Ridley Scott, Oliver Stone, Atom Egoyan, Randall Kleiser, Ang Lee, Robert Rodriguez, the Coen Brothers, John Lee Hancock and many others from their beginning efforts for film submissions early in their careers.  Multi award-winning producer/director Hunter Todd founded this film festival to honor all categories of film and video production continuing his long dedication of “Discovery,” spotlighting emerging Independent filmmakers as “the Spielbergs & Ang Lees of tomorrow.”   The Remi takes its name from the famous artist Frederick Remington, who captures the spirit of Texas and the West with his brilliant paintings and sculptures.

For more information and screening copies, contact:

Judith Keenan,  Executive Producer & Producer

Judith-at-bookshorts-dotcom

The Paul Quarrington Radio Show, His Voice, Legacy and Future

Tune in to JazzFM on Sunday, Jan 23, at 10:30pm for a half-hour radio show dedicated to Paul Quarrington, hosted by Porkbelly Futures bandmate and lifelong friend Martin Worthy; to continue to commemorate Paul`s ongoing legacy on the anniversary of his passing. With live music and stage tributes drawn from live event celebrations of PQ produced in 2009-10, including Jim Cuddy, Gordon Pinsent, and Tony and Joel Quarrington.  PLUS Sharon Riley and Faith Chorale as featured in the film Paul Quarrington Life in Music, AND never-before-heard PQ performance from the Porkbellys private recording library.

Books of the Year: CBB Cover Award

Perhaps it’s the economy, with its dour sermons of doom, but when I go into a bookstore these days, I’m far more attracted to colourful, flirty covers than to sombre, emotional ones. (I bought Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom in hardcover because I loved the juicy life in the design.) The liveliness of this particular cover is so fitting for Paul Quarrington’s final book, about music, memory, and living life to the fullest while facing death head-on. It enticed me the moment I saw it: it’s assured, lively, and highly polished. As the ­design clearly attests, the book is a celebration, not a dirge. – Ingrid Paulson, a freelance book designer

December issue of our publishing trade magazine, Quill and Quire, included it in their “Covers of the Year” section –http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/2010/11/25/books-of-the-year-2010-covers-of-the-year/2/

Carson Quarrington accepting Honorary Degree, Nipissing U., on behalf of her late father, Paul Quarrington

Paul Quarrington posthumously received the honorary degree Doctor of Letters from Nipissing University, North Bay Ontario Canada. His daughter, Carson Quarrington accepted the honorary degree and delivered the convocation address to graduates of Nipissing’s Faculty of Arts and Science and Concurrent Education program on Thursday, June 10, 2010.  Her presentation was moving, insightful, and elegant indeed.

Nipissing University honours Quarrington with honorary degree

Paul Quarrington will receive, posthumously, the honorary degree, Doctor of Letters from Nipissing University, North Bay Ontario Canada. His daughter, Carson Quarrington will accept the honorary degree and deliver the convocation address to graduates of Nipissing’s Faculty of Arts and Science and Concurrent Education program on Thursday, June 10. Paul Quarrington is recognized as one of Canada’s most influential literary figures. A novelist, musician, screenwriter and non-fiction writer, Quarrington’s work has garnered numerous awards. His novel King Leary was awarded the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour in 1988 and was a finalist for Trillium Book Award.

In 1989, his novel Whale Music won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. His novel Galveston was shortlisted for the prestigious Giller Prize in 2004. In 2009, the Writers’ Trust of Canada awarded Quarrington the Matt Cohen Prize for a distinguished lifetime contribution to Canadian literature. Quarrington also taught creative writing for more than 20 years, served as the Chair of the Writers’ Union of Canada and was a board member of both PEN Canada and Fringe Theatre Toronto. Quarrington died from lung cancer on January 21, 2010.

The other honorary degree recipients include Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo, local artist Jack Lockhart, women’s advocate Marsha Greenfield and Jon Dellandrea, most notably known for university advancement, and Former Ontario premier Mike Harris.

The announcement was made Friday May 21, 2010 by the university’s interim vice-president of academic and research Errol Aspevig, who said all six are an “extraordinary group of individuals being honoured.”

A committee of the senate, which includes board members, students, faculty and alumni, decides who receives honorary degrees. Nominations are made by the committee and accepted from outside sources. The list of candidates are taken to the board of governors for approval.

For more information, visit http://baytoday.ca/content/news/details.asp?c=37061

CBC: Quarrington Wins $20,000 Matt Cohen Award

Toronto writer and musician Paul Quarrington has won the Matt Cohen Award, a $20,000 prize awarded by the Writers’ Trust of Canada.

The Matt Cohen Award ? In Celebration of a Writing Life is presented to a Canadian for a body of distinguished work in poetry or prose. It is named for the late Canadian author Matt Cohen and has been awarded since 2000.

Quarrington, 56, is author of the novels Whale Music, King Leary and Galveston and his most recent, The Ravine, as well as screenplays for Whale Music and Perfectly Normal.

King Leary was awarded the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour in 1987 and won CBC Radio’s Canada Reads competition in 2008. Galveston was nominated for the Giller Prize in 2004.

Quarrington revealed in June that he is suffering from Stage 4 lung cancer.

This summer, he put his writing on hold while he toured the East Coast with his band, the Porkbelly Futures. Quarrington is a singer-guitarist with the blues-country group and recently recorded a solo album.

From the CBC News, October 19, 2009. For the full article, go to the CBC Website.

Quarrington Arts Society Launched

Toronto, ON (October 24, 2009) ? The launch of the Quarrington Arts Society was announced today by Michael Burke, President and CEO of Cordova Bay Entertainment Group Inc., at a celebration honouring its namesake, author and musician, Paul Quarrington.

The Quarrington Arts Society – QAS – was formed to encourage and promote artistic endeavor and achievement by Canadian artists and Canadian students of the arts who work or have worked in more than one artistic discipline. The award which may go to one or more, as determined by the directors of the organization, will recognize all or any of the following ? a single work, a group of works, a body of work or a career of lifetime of work

The concept was born 4 months ago by Paul, longtime friend and music partner Martin Worthy and Michael Burke to recognize and encourage artistic diversity. A legacy that will be a part of the Canadian artistic fabric for generations to come, the physical award visually represents, writing, music, film – the 3 tenets of Quarrington’s professional life and was designed by Victoria’s Michael Tension — also a musician and composer.

In addition to Paul Quarrington, initial contributors to the Society include, Cordova Bay Entertainment Group, Inc, Sea Change Corporation, Maple Music Ltd, Torrent Investments and a long list of friends and family.

Paul Quarrington was born on July 22nd of 1953 in Toronto, Ontario, the middle son of Bruce Joseph and Mary Ormiston, both psychologists. He spent his teen years in the suburb of Don Mills and attended the University of Toronto from 1970 to 1972. He is also a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre. Music was his passion from an early age, and in 1980, he and his long time friend Martin Worthy had a #1 single in Canada called ?Baby and the Blues?. Quarrington toured and recorded with the notorious Joe Hall and The Continental Drift and more recently with the Porkbelly Futures. Paul?s songwriting talents soon led to screenwriting, winning him Gemini nominations and Genie Awards for Perfectly Normal and Claire with the Rheostatics as well as the CFTPA Indie Award for Moose TV (Showcase).

In many ways, Quarrington hit his stride as an author. His novels The Ravine and Galveston were nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize; Whale Music won the Governor General?s Award for Fiction and King Leary won the Canada Reads competition and the Stephen Leacock Medal. This year he was awarded the prestigious Matt Cohen Award for his body of work. Quarrington is a frequent writer on television series and over the years has ventured into the graphic arts, creating several paintings of note.

A novelist, musician, screenwriter and non-fiction writer, Quarrington continues to tour and record with the Porkbelly Futures, is working on a solo recording with friends Dan Hill and Matthew McCauley, a documentary film (BookShorts/CTV Bravo!) following the themes in his new non-fiction book Cigar Box Banjo (Greystone Books) that is expected to be released in 2010, as well as a television series Notebooks on Euphoria for Shaftsbury Films/TMN and a script for the adaptation of Galveston with Peter Lynch.

In making the announcement, Burke noted ?Paul has a plethora of talent and has always exercised it. In a way, he is the ‘poster child’ for this society.” The first award will be given in 2010. For further information and to make a pledge , visit www.quarringtonartsociety.ca

Former Leacock Medal for Humour Winner recognized by museum

“Orillia’s Leacock Museum has established a literary chair to honour 1988 Leacock Medal for Humour winner and newly dubbed, “Canada’s Renaissance Man”, Paul Quarrington.

The Paul Quarrington Chair Fund salutes the contribution to the arts of author, writer, musician and filmmaker Paul Quarrington.

Each year, the museum will designate a writer as the Paul Quarrington Chair recipient and invite him/her to visit Orillia and participate in the annual Leacock Summer Festival. The fund will assist in offsetting the costs of hosting the annual winner including travel and accommodation.”

For the whole Orillia Packet and Times article and more information on how to donate, please go to the Packet and Times website.

Paul Quarrington to Receive Matt Cohen Award

PAUL QUARRINGTON NAMED RECIPIENT OF WRITERS’ TRUST OF CANADA
MATT COHEN AWARD

Presentation to be made at IFOA event in honour of Quarrington’s life and work

TORONTO, October 19, 2009 The Writers’ Trust of Canada has named Paul Quarrington the ninth recipient of the Matt Cohen Award: In Celebration of a Writing Life. The award will be presented to Quarrington on Saturday, October 24 as part of the 30th anniversary International Festival of Authors (IFOA: Oct. 21-31, 2009).

The presentation of the Matt Cohen Award will be made by Patsy Aldana, following an introduction by Margaret Atwood, as part of Paul Quarrington: A Life in Music, Words, and on Screen, Saturday, October 24, 3pm, Harbourfront Centre. This licensed IFOA event includes readings and tributes from authors including Atwood, Roddy Doyle and Alistair MacLeod; from Quarrington’s film industry peers, including Paul Gross, who flies in from the set of Eastwick to deliver an on-stage tribute; and live music from the PorkBelly Futures, the Quarrington Trio, and a reunion of the Rheostatics. Dave Bidini hosts.

For information and to purchase tickets the public may visit <b>www.readings.org or Call the Harbourfront Centre Box Office at 416-973-4000. Tickets are $15/$12 members/FREE students with ID (subject to availability).

About the Matt Cohen Award:
Valued at $20,000, the Matt Cohen Award is presented to a Canadian writer whose life has been dedicated to writing as a primary pursuit, in honour of a body of distinguished work in poetry or prose, in English or French. This year’s prize is made possible by a number of generous donors; a committee composed of Patsy Aldana, Graeme Gibson, and Wayne Grady selected the recipient.

Established in 2001 by the Writers’ Trust of Canada and a group of anonymous donors, this award is named in memory of Matt Cohen, winner of the Governor General’s Award for Fiction (Elizabeth and After, 1999) and a founding member of the Writers’ Union of Canada. Past recipients include Mavis Gallant, Norman Levine, and Marie-Claire Blais.

Next Page »