Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1968-2010 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
44 boxes (6.3 metres)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Paul Quarrington was a writer, novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and musician. Born in 1953 in Toronto, he spent his childhood in Don Mills, Ontario, before eventually moving back to Toronto. Quarrington attended the University of Toronto for two years, before dropping out to pursue writing and music. Quarrington was a prolific writer, authoring ten novels, seven non-fiction works, several stage plays, and numerous scripts for Canadian films and television shows, as well as contributing work to newspapers and magazines such as the National Post. Quarrington was also a musician; he made up one half of the duo Quarrington/Hill with Dan Hill, and later Quarrington/Worthy with Martin Worthy, before becoming the lead singer and guitarist of the band Porkbelly
Futures.
Quarrington received numerous awards for his work, including a Genie Award for Best Original Screenplay for Perfectly Normal, the Stephen Leacock Award for his novel King Leary - which also won the 2008 Canada Reads competition - and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction for his novel Whale Music. His novel Galveston was also nominated for the Giller Prize. In 2009, Quarrington was awarded the Matt Cohen Award by the Writers Trust of Canada for his contributions to Canadian literature.
In May 2009, Quarrington was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. He spent the next months touring with Porkbelly Futures, working on his memoir Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Life and Music, writing screenplays, and being featured in the documentary film Paul Quarrington: Life in Music. Quarrington passed away on January 21, 2010.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of Dorothy Bennie, 2024.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This fonds includes manuscript drafts of Quarrington’s published novels Home Game (1983), The Life of Hope (1985), King Leary (1987), Whale Music (1989), Logan in Overtime (1990), Civilization (1994), The Spirit Cabinet (1999), Galveston (2004), and The Ravine (2008); drafts of his non-fiction books Hometown Heroes (1988), Fishing with My Old Guy (1995), The Boy on the Back on the Turtle (1997), From the Far Side of the River (2003), and Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Music and Life (2010); manuscripts for stage plays; screenplays for feature films Perfectly Normal (1990), Giant Steps (1992), Camila (1994), and Whale Music (1994); as well as screenplays for short films, television episodes, and scripts and treatments for various unproduced projects.
The fonds also contains drafts of short stories and other writing projects; notes and research materials; records related to professional awards and honours; newspaper and magazine clippings related to Quarrington and other promotional material including posters and catalogues; contracts and financial records; sheet music, lyrics, song books and other records related to Quarrington’s activities as a musician; correspondence; as well as various personal records and juvenilia. The fonds also contains a significant amount of audiovisual and digital material, including MiniDVs and a hard drive related to the production of the documentary Paul Quarrington: Life in Music; as well as cassette tapes, DVDs, film reels, and VHS tapes. The fonds also includes notebooks with partial drafts of and notes relating to Quarrington’s written work.
Contains series:
- Manuscripts
- Screenplays, treatments, and outlines
- Other writing
- Professional records
- Correspondence and personal records
- Audiovisual and digital records
- Notebooks
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
No restrictions governing access.
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://aeon.library.utoronto.ca