Sean Flinn
* Cigar Box Banjo by Paul Quarrington, GreyStone
Quarrington died in the early days of 2010. It’ll take years to fully appreciate his contribution. Start now, with this excellent memoir on his musical life first, his approaching death second.

– from the St. John Telegraph Journal

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/

Wednesday, September 22

Venue: Grand Theatre, Regina Rosen Auditorium
Time: 7:30 – 10:30 pm
Tickets: $20.00 >> get info here >> http://www.kingstonwritersfest.ca/tickets.php

Paul Quarrington was a storyteller in every medium he could get his hands on—novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, songs. Opening night brings together PQ’s People, the writers, musicians, actors, and filmmakers who knew Paul and have their own stories to tell about the writing life that produced 10 novels, including Canada Reads winner King Leary, the award-winning book and screenplay Whale Music, the TV series Due South, musicals for children, 3 full-length plays, 3 CDs with the Porkbelly Futures, as well as a posthumous solo CD and the memoir Cigar Box Banjo.   Join Nino Ricci, Dave Bidini, Kim Moritsugu, Stuart Ross, Steven Heighton, Dan Hill, Cordelia Strube, Jim Garrard’s theatrical presentation of The Invention of Poetry featuring actors Craig Walker and Brett Christopher, Judith Keenan, and the Porkbelly Futures for an evening of stories in all their glorious forms.

“It was great, Judith. Or at least, I hear it was. I was stranded on Fogo Island!
But people were very moved by it and were grateful to have the opportunity to
honour Paul. Steve Brunt and I also had a Paul moment on stage–we put out
the fishing rod he used last year…I read a bit from the book about Des Walsh
and then we played the Friendly song–which got stuck in the middle and stopped!
Then picked up again. Quite a moment! hope your summer was/is great. xoxo”

Here’s the Western Star review of the event too >>

Canadian author and musician remembered at Woody Point Writers festival
Published on August 24th by Katherine Hudson

Stephen Brunt and Shelagh Rogers at Writers at Woody Point Festival

Stephen Brunt and Shelagh Rogers seen on Saturday August 21, 2010

Eclectic, hilarious, and endearingly frank, Cigar Box Banjo tracks a life lived in music and words. Quarrington ruminates on the bands of his childhood; his restless youth, playing bass with the cult band Joe Hall and the Continental Drift; and his incarnation, in middle age, as rhythm guitarist and singer with the band Porkbelly Futures. Ranging through rock’n’roll, the blues, folk, country, and soul, he explores how songs are made and why they affect us so profoundly.

Songwriting gave him a way to take in his own experience, Quarrington tells us—road trips, bad whisky, true love, love gone wrong—and music becomes his mainstay after the Dread Diagnosis. Some people with a terminal illness find mountains to climb; Quarrington decides to go out singing. On stage, at sea, and in studios from Newfoundland to Nashville, he celebrates his last year on the planet.

Enhanced CD includes three new Quarrington solo music tracks and first release of “Hey, Hollywood” music video as well as the official trailer for the documentary feature “Paul Quarrington: Life in Music.”

Read an excerpt and find out more on Greystone Books website

In the January 9th edition of the Globe & Mail, Martin Levin listed the top 10 must reads for 2010. Of Paul Quarrington’s upcoming Cigar Box Banjo he writes, “…the writer and musician extraordinaire recounts a life experienced from inside the music…”

To read Levin’s full article on the Globe & Mail website, click here.

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.