For several years,
Matthew Quick (a.k.a. Q) told his students that they should take risks and do amazing things, because there is potential in all of us. He became known for his impassioned speeches about literature-how it pushes us to live an examined life, and how Thoreau promised success unexpected in quiet hours for those who dare to live the life they imagine, for those who advance confidently in the direction of their dreams. Because he secretly wanted to be a novelist, but had settled for the more financially stable life of a teacher, Q began to feel like a gigantic hypocrite.
He quit his tenured teaching position, sold his house, floated down the Peruvian Amazon and formed The Bardbarians (a two-man literary circle), backpacked around Southern Africa, hiked to the bottom of a snowy Grand Canyon, soul-searched, and finally began writing full-time in his in-laws' unfinished basement.
Three years later, he emerged from the basement with a finished manuscript called THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. He found an agent, who sold the novel in several countries-before selling the movie rights to The Weinstein Company.
Q now lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife, novelist Alicia Bessette.
A longer version and a more formal bio can be found here:
