[1] Due to complications at birth, one side of Quintana's face was left disfigured which was only corrected when he was sixteen years of age.

[1] Differences with his brother, both in physical appearance and in popularity, and being abandoned by his father would translate into recurring themes in his work, such as rivalry and a search for identity.

[8] In 1975 and 1976 he adapted the stories of Martin Beck, written by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, into a radio play called Moordbrigade Stockholm.

Quintana also wrote comic stories for children's magazine Pep with illustrations by Hans G. Kresse, Jos Looman and Thé Tjong-Khing.

[3] In 1995, he published the book Het boek van Bod Pa for which he was awarded the Gouden Uil and Woutertje Pieterse Prijs in 1996.

[3][14] In 2001, his last book De hemelruiter (2000), a sequel to Het boek van Bod Pa,[15] received an honorable mention by the jury of the Woutertje Pieterse Prijs.