He wrote his early novels while working as the bass player for the group Joe Hall and the Continental Drift and as the guitar accompanist for Cathy Stewart, a Canadian singer who was popular at the time.

These include Nino Ricci, Joseph Kertes, Dave Bidini, Jake MacDonald, John Krizanc, Christina Jennings, Judith Keenan, Michael Burke, Peter Lynch, Ron Mann, Robert Lantos and many others.

[6] During the promotional push for his 2008 novel The Ravine, Anne Collins, his longtime editor at Random House Canada, told Quill & Quire that "Paul uses a comic approach to deal with incredibly sad and troubling and tragic material.

"[7] His protagonists are often faded former celebrities in the worlds of sports, music or film, emotionally crippled antiheroes whose personal demons have led them to withdraw from society.

'"[8] During his time, Quarrington has been an influential figure in Canadian literature, not only as an author, but also through his participation in teaching (Humber College and University of Toronto), publishing circles, organizations and events.

He won the Genie Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1991 for Perfectly Normal, a comedy that combined ice hockey and grand opera.

Quarrington has also worked in the television industry, acting as writer and/or producer on such shows as Due South, Power Play and Moose TV, the latter winning Best Comedy from the CFTPA Indie Awards 2008.

[10] Quarrington/Worthy, a duo with musician Martin Worthy, had a #1 hit on RPM's Adult Contemporary charts the week of January 12, 1980 with their song "Baby and the Blues".

[15] After being diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2009, Quarrington continued his plans to embark on various concert tours with Porkbelly Futures, while continuing to produce his own solo CD and the Porkbellys third release; complete his non-fiction memoir Cigar Box Banjo: Notes on Life and Music (Greystone Books, May 2010), deliver multiple screenplays for episodes of a television series for Shaftesbury Films (Notes on Euphoria, dir.

[16] Rheostatics, who had broken up in 2007, reunited for a live tribute show to Quarrington produced by Humber College for Toronto's International Festival of Authors.

[19] Quarrington was also nominated for the Leacock Award in 1984 for Home Game,[20] in 1986 for The Life of Hope,[21] in 1990 for Whale Music[22] and in 1998 for The Boy on the Back of the Turtle.

[25] His short film Pavane, adapted from his novel The Ravine, garnered a Remi Platinum Award Houston's WorldFest, was juried in several other US festivals, and was broadcast in Canada on Bravo!FACT Presents and CBC Television's Canadian Reflections.

In 2009, the Writers' Trust of Canada awarded Quarrington its Matt Cohen Prize for a distinguished lifetime contribution to Canadian literature.