A close personal friend is gone

It's a sad day at On the House. I just learned that a brilliant and much-loved Canadian writer Paul Quarrington, a man I was proud to call a friend, has just died. I loved Paul's books -  found him to be a darkly funny guy  and sharp observer of the amusing animal we call man. He was a keen satirist, but not a mean-spirited one. Mostly, he was a beautiful writer who could handle words like a juggler. When I first met Paul, he was dating one of my best friends, Dorothy, who would later become his wife. Naturally, I read one of his books, Home Game. I fell in love with it. So when I went to a book launch for him, I insisted- although I barely knew him -  that he sign my copy of the book "To my friend, Vicky", telling him I wanted it be worth something when he was a Really Famous Writer.  Later I found out that someone else has asked for the same thing, so at the next book launch, I insisted upon him prefixing "my friend" with "close, personal" telling him as he was getting more famous, the signed books would be worth even more one day and I wanted to cash in on knowing the Great Man. I wouldn't part with those books for anything.  If you, like me, were a fan of Paul's, you can honour his memory by supporting the Quarrington Arts Society, which Paul founded in the months before his death  to encourage and promote artistic endeavor and achievement by Canadian artists and Canadian students of the arts who work, as did he, in more than one artistic discipline.

Comments

[John Merritt]

My condolensces to you and to his family. Never read any books but maybe one day in the cold wintry Canadian months I might be able. My deepest sympathies.

[Susan Ratcliffe]

On behalf of the Eden Mills Writers' Festival, I would like to remember Paul Quarrington as the vivid, vibrant, entertaining writer and personality who contributed so much spirit to Eden Mills when he came to read to us and help our children with their writing.
Sad to think of the extinguishing of such a bright light - but its glow will live on in the memories of those who felt it.
Our condolences to his family.
Susan Ratcliffe, on behalf of the Board of Directors, and all the patrons of our festival