Five questions for Quarrington with Calgary Herald

Q: At this year’s Wordfest you’re curating the Moving Stories film program which, looks at short films from around the world. Do you have a background in film? A: When I was in high school I really wanted to be a filmmaker. I even got into a prestigious program at one point . . . but my filming partner and I took the cameras to a party and shot everyone drinking beer. We got thrown out of the program for that, so that sort of felled my filming ambitions for a while. But I did actually go to the Canadian Film Centre here about 15 years ago for the director’s residence and I did make four short films. (My new one) Pavane is based on The Ravine. It’s about the brother relationship and it hints at an occurrence in The Ravine. I use animation to do the childhood stuff, which i think is kind of effective. I’m not if it makes it more creepy or less creepy, but I know it effects the creepiness level. Q: What inspired you to write your latest novel The Ravine? A: I taught creative writing for a long time and at one point I was a writer-in-residence at the Orillia Public Library here in Ontario. . . . Some women came (to the class) and it became clear to me they were in abusive relationships, but I noticed their stories either led up to the abuse and stopped or they began after the abuse had finished and (the stories) proceeded from there. I realized it was my job to get them to write about that middle part that made them uncomfortable. I later realized that about four or five years ago in my own life there was a certain amount of turmoil and I wasn’t following my own advice, so I chose to confront some issues I had. It was things based on an incident which happened to me and my brother and another boy when we were young. So the inspiration for The Ravine was writing about things that made me feel uncomfortable. Spotlight … Paul Quarrington appears at Wordfest events on Oct. 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19. wordfest.com Published: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 Read the whole interview at the Calgary Herald website