News
The Official Blog of Matthew Quick
For upcoming events click on the link to the right, under ‘Matthew Quick.’
What People are Saying About Q’s Appearances and Speaking Engagements.
May, 2012
Sorta Like A Rock Star is named a 2013 Garden State Teen Book Awards Nominee & a 2013 Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Readers Choice Award Nominee
Q participates in the Philadelphia Free Library‘s Teen Author Series
April, 2012
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR is named a Washington State Evergreen Young Adult Book Award Nominee for 2012-13.
Q speaks at the Texas Library Association Conference with Allen Zadoff, John Green, and Bill Willingham at the Guys Read Panel (photo via @hipmamajenn ‘s Twitter account):
And hosts a Little Brown dinner with Sara Zarr:
Q speaks at the NAMI PA Montgomery County’s annual membership meeting and awards dinner. NAMI is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization that provides support, education and advocacy to those affected by mental illness and their families.
Q and Brian Meehl host a panel on quirky characters at the Newburyport Literary Festival Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Watcha Reading Now interviews Q.
Q speaks at The Gale Free Library in Holden, Massachusetts. The Daily Holden covers.
March, 2012
BOY21 is a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice.
BOY21 is called “…beautiful…a first-rate work of art” by The New York Times Book Review (reviewed by Matt de la Peña).
Q delivers a speech to the Michigan Library Association and takes home their 2011 Thumbs Up! Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teen Literature.
Q speaks with the students and faculty of La Salle University. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Q is Little Flower Catholic High School‘s Career Day Speaker. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Q visits Huron High School and Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Mr. Packard’s ninth grade English class below.)
Interviewed by The Debutante Ball.
Q launches BOY21 at Collingswood High School. Collingswood High School represent!
BOY21 is published!
Q is featured in Worcester’s Telegram and Gazette.
Q featured on The Courier Post Online’s DOWN THE PIKE.
CollingswoodPatch interviews Q.
February, 2012
“AS A WRITER, Matthew Quick has traveled from Collingswood, N.J., to outer space and inner teenage psyche.” Philadelphia Daily News interviews Q.
FOREVER REWRITING interviews Q here.
Introducing BREAK THESE RULES. Q will be anthologized along with Sara Zarr, A.S. King, Francisco X. Stork, Josh Berk, Lisa Schroeder, Jordan Sonnenblick, and many other YA writers. All royalties will be donated to The Children’s Defense Fund. Props to Luke Reynolds for thinking this up and seeing it through.
Q is interviewed by the Gaithersburg Book Festival, where he will appear on Saturday May 19th.
Introducing FORGIVE ME, LEONARD PEACOCK (Q’s third YA novel). From Pub Lunch: Author of SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR and BOY21 Matthew Quick’s FORGIVE ME, LEONARD PEACOCK, which follows 18-year-old Leonard through his decision to kill his former best friend and then himself, and the hope he finds when he least expects it, all in one 24-hour period, to Alvina Ling at Little, Brown Children’s, for publication in Spring 2013, by Douglas Stewart at Sterling Lord Literistic (NA).
The BOY21 book trailer drops. Special thanks to Kent Green and Ernie Rockelman of Emerald Productions; Chris Michael, Collingswood High School senior (Go Panthers!), for playing Finley; and Mark Wiltsey for allowing us to film in the Collingswood High School gym, um, er, outer space.
Q is interviewed by STACKED.
January, 2012
Boy21 earns the elusive Kirkus Review STAR.
THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK gets plugged on The Golden Globes.
November, 2011
Q speaks at The ALAN 2011 Workshop – Chicago, IL – and SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR is honored as an Amelia Elizabeth Walden finalist.
Pat Peoples (or the actor playing him in the movie, Mr. Bradley Cooper) is named Sexiest Man Alive by People Magazine!
October, 2011
THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK begins filming! Here’s a photo of Jacki Weaver and Robert De Niro wearing an Eagles sweater via On Location Vacations:
Q Skypes with students participating in Teen Read Week at the Puyallup Public Library, Puyallup, WA
September, 2011
The Silver Linings Playbook movie casting call goes out.
Sorta Like a Rock Star is nominated for the 2013 Louisiana Teen Readers Choice list. Thank you Louisiana readers!
Q’s story makes Worcester Mag.
July, 2011
Q visits Oklahoma City as The Red Earth Low-Residency MFA Program‘s visiting writing.
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR is named a finalist for the ALAN Amelia Elizabeth Walden AWARD. Congrats to Francisco X. Stork for taking top honor. If you haven’t read THE LAST SUMMER OF THE DEATH WARRIORS you really should, because it’s a fantastic book. Congrats also to the other finalists: Jordan Sonnenblick, Matt de la Peña, and Kristen Chandler.
June, 2011
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR wins the Michigan Library Association’s Thumbs Up! Award. Thank you, Michigan!
Mitali Perkins and Q speak with Sara Zarr‘s Glen Workshop students at Mount Holyoke College.
Q interviewed by Desirous of Everything
May, 2011
‘Living On Words’ – Q & Al make the Worcester Telegram & Gazette
The latest TSLP movie gossip here!
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR is released in paperback with a new cover!
The Official Blog of Matthew Quick is born.
April, 2011
Q is interviewed by Jennifer Buehler, Ph.D. on readwritethink.org’s Text Messages (Click the hot link above to hear the interview. Or hit play below.)
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR makes Bank Street’s list: The Best Children’s Books of the Year, 2011 edition. (Fourteen & Up, Today)
March, 2011
Q moves to Massachusetts.
February, 2011
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR paperback cover is unveiled! 
Q and the winners read at the City Paper Fiction Contest celebration.
Q visits with Moorestown Friends‘ (High School) creative writing class.
January, 2011
Marco Polo Publishers in Taipei buy Complex Chinese rights to THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. Pat Peoples is going to Taiwan and Hong Kong.
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR makes YALSA/ALA’s 2011 Best Fiction for Young Adults list!
Q has a bromance, and it shows up in the Courier Post.
Q returns to his elementary and junior high school to speak with the current students. Oaklyn represent!
Q and his wife, Alicia Bessette, make SJ Magazine’s People To Watch 2011 and judge the Philadelphia City Paper’s Fiction Writing Contest.
Claire-ification interviews Q, who sometimes feels pixilated.
December, 2010
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR is spotted on a GLEE reading poster!
Q discusses compassion, SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR, and writing with readergirlz.
Q & Al sign at Cheese Etc., in Collingswood, NJ.
Q signs at the Cherry Hill, NJ Barnes & Noble.
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR paperback mention in PW’s ‘Children’s Booksellers Share Early Buzz About Spring 2011′. Thanks to Heather Lyon, owner of Lyon Books and Learning Center in Chico, Calif.
November, 2010
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR is added to the 2011 Texas Tayshas Reading List.
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR makes Indigo Teen Blog’s Top Ten of 2010: Teen Fiction List. Hooray for Canada!
Two Q essays appear on Cynthia Leitich Smith’s blog, Cynsations.
Students from the Albert-Schweitzer- Gymnasium in Sömmerda, Germany study SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR.
Q and Al speak at the Moorestown Library as part of The Burlington County Literacy Volunteers’ Speak Out For Literacy Series.
Signing with many other authors. Children’s Book World.
October, 2010
Q with the students of Little Flower High School.
Q is Drexel University’s visiting author.
Rick Moody interviews Al and Q about Quest For Kindness on The Rumpus.
Q participates in the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Fall 2010 Teen Author Series.
Q speaks with the students of Springfield High School.
Q and Al speak with the students of New Hope-Solebury High School.
Q and Al speak at the Collingswood Book Festival right after Mitch ‘Wild Thing’ Williams.
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR is nominated for a CYBILS Young Adult Fiction Award (2010)
September, 2010
Q speaks with Collingswood High School‘s AP English class and the Collingswood Town Read Book Club.
La Salle University’s The Collegian reviews SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR.
Via phone, Q speaks to Jennifer Buehler, Ph.D.‘s class: The Adolescent in American Literature. Saint Louis University.
On NBC Philadelphia, Q and his wife, Alicia Bessette (aka Al), tell the story of how they became published fiction writers.
School Library Journal gives the SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR audio book a **STARRED** review.
Q and his wife, novelist Alicia Bessette, speak and read at La Salle University, Philadelphia, PA.
August, 2010
Alicia’s (Q’s wife) novel, SIMPLY FROM SCRATCH, is published!
Q and Al’s road-to-publication/love story in South Jersey’s Courier Post.
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR is taught in a German high school. English class. Fun!
July, 2010
Azbooka Publishers (Moscow) buy the Russian translation rights for THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK.
Q reflects on the writing life in a Quest for Kindness essay. Are you in a maze or labyrinth?
Authors Unleashed interviews Q.
PrincessReviews interviews Q.
June, 2010
Q’s editor at Little, Brown–Alvina Ling–blogs about SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR over at Blue Rose Girls.
Toledoblade.com puts SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR on its Summer Reading List for Children.
Q is featured in The Daily Holden.
Q speaks at the Haddonfield Public Library, Haddonfield, NJ; The Gale Free Library, Holden, MA; and the Collingswood Library, Collingswood, NJ.
May, 2010
Cleveland’s THE PLAIN DEALER puts THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK on its excellent summer paperbacks list calling TSLP “tender, appealing…funny and satisfying.”
Q speaks with the students of New Hope-Solebury High School, who rock!
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR is recommended highly by readwritethink.org‘s Text Messages (it’s the last book discussed)
THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK is named Collingswood’s Town Book.
Who is Big H? Q guest blogs at Teenreads.com: Matthew Quick on the real ‘star’ of SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR
QUEST FOR KINDNESS begins with Q’s essay, ‘Kindness, Sixteen Years Later.’
Q and SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR appear on Largehearted Boy’s Book Notes.
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR is officially published!
Q guest blogs on The Debutante Ball. He’s written about small kind strangers, shopping, and Al.
April, 2010
The sale of BOY21, Q’s second YA book, is officially announced by PW here.
SLARS is spotted in many stores, including The Yankee Bookshop in Woodstock, VT (note the photo on the left).
The Divining Wand responds to SLARS.
TSLP US paperback is officially published.
School Library Journal gives SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR a STARRED review and calls it “Hugely enjoyable.”
THE SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR BOOK TRAILER DROPS!
Librarian Mary Schwander puts SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR on the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association’s Top Ten.
Q guest blogs over at The Divining Wand. He’s written about “Messed-Up Fairy Tales.”
Wordbird interviews Q – SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR & the writing life.
Ken Wheaton, author of THE FIRST ANNUAL GRAND PRAIRIE RABBIT FESTIVAL, responds to SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR here.
Teens Read Too gives SLARS the Gold Star Award for Excellence!
Reading Between The Lines and Notes From The Bedside Table offer extremely thoughtful responses to SLARS.
Drexel University picks THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK as the summer read for all incoming freshmen. Q will give a lecture next fall and teach a one-day master class in fiction writing.
The Divining Wand interviews Q. Q discusses Geico cavemen and sentimental hogwash.
The Fictionistas interview Q and post his high school senior photo! Read here.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010 6-8 pm – After work pre-release party. Treno in Westmont, NJ – Receive your copy of SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR before it is available in stores AND support Steininger Behavioral Care, an important South Jersey non-profit. Ticket info and details here.
March, 2010
Little, Brown & Company purchases Q’s next YA book, BOY21. Look for it in 18 or so months. Boy21 is about love, poverty, basketball, mental health, forgiveness, and outer space—but mostly it’s about growing up. More details to come…
Untitled Books (in the UK) publishes Q’s ‘Character Study,’ Glen Williams of Robinsville, PA, USA, Night Janitor.
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR – we believe this is the first blog response written by a teenager.
TSLP gets the window treatment in London. Very cool article here.
On Goodreads: Enter to win 1 of 3 FREE signed copies of SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR. And you can also enter to win 1 of 3 FREE signed copies of THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK US Paperback.
Picador launches awesome new TSLP website in the UK: video by Chris Barrett, new audio clips and photos by Dave Tavani, and Pat’s Magic 8 Ball Game. Come play! Hit this link here!
February, 2010
Q discusses book covers on Barnes & Noble’s website.
The UK’s TV Book Club interviews Q – My Life In Books: Matthew Quick
Q’s wife, novelist Alicia Bessette, launches her web site www.aliciabessette.com
January, 2010.
National Book Award finalist Sara Zarr, Asian Pacific American Award for Youth Literature winner Justina Chen, and Dana Reinhardt endorse SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR. Their blurbs.
THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK is selected by Amanda Ross for The TV Book Club (UK), which the Telegraph calls “Britain’s most powerful book club.”
Dave Tavani blogs about photographing Amber Appleton, the star of SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR. Great photos here.
Helen Stubbs from OffTheShelf English bookshop in Geneva discusses TSLP on World Radio Switzerland. Please hit this link and listen to the clip on the website.
THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK book cover makes top 50 of 2008.
Reading Group Discussion Questions for THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK.
The new SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR cover.
December, 2009.
Matthew speaks at the The Gale Free Library – Holden, MA.
November, 2009.
Publishers Weekly. Librarian Preview The tone of SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR is compared to Sherman Alexie’s THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN.
THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK is a Book Circle selection for the town of Holden, MA.
Matthew hires Kent Green and Ernie Rockelman of Emerald Productions to shoot and edit the SLARS book trailer, which will debut later this winter.
SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR audio rights are sold at auction to Listening Library.
Tim Rayworth finishes Matthew’s new website.
Matthew speaks with students at Moorestown Friends High School.
October, 2009.
Matthew signs books at the Susquehanna Bank opening – Center City Philadelphia.
Matthew visits with The Carriagebrooke Farm Book Club.
Matthew is interviewed by Jill Dearman here: Barnes & Noble’s Unabashedly Bookish.
In her weekly Wednesday blog, Matthew Quick ‘s wife (Alicia Bessette) tells the wacky, epic love story behind how Q and Al ‘became writers’ and landed agents.
August, 2009.
Stan Hochman writes about Matthew in Philadelphia’s Daily News. Aug 25, pg 53.
Tianjin Huawentianxia purchases the Chinese language rights for THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK.
June, 2009.
NPR posts Nancy Pearl’s summer picks. TSLP makes the list.
Nancy Pearl discusses TSLP on Library Beat’s Podcast. Minutes 9:17-11:11.
Helen’s Reads declares TSLP a ‘fun airplane read.’
Tuesday, June 2, Matthew will speak with the students of New Hope-Solebury High School.
Friday, June 5, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm, Matthew will be selling and signing books at The Grey Lodge Pub (Northeast Philadelphia). It’s also Manayunk Keller Beer Night.
Saturday, June 13, 5:00 pm – 10:00 pm, Matthew will be signing books at the Cherry Hill Barnes and Noble.
May, 2009.
TSLP is published in Italian.
Sunday, May 24, 10:00 am, Matthew will appear on The Drexel InterView. WYBE/MiNDTV programming can be viewed on channel 35 and cable channels 34 and 57 in the Greater Philadelphia area.
Saturday, May 9, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, Matthew will be selling and signing books at Grooveground (Collingswood, NJ).
Wednesday, May 20, 6:00 pm, Matthew will speak about TSLP and his life. Steininger Behavioral Care Services presents A Night Of Silver Linings.
April, 2009.
April 2, Peter Anthony Holder interviews Matthew on Canadian radio. Click here to listen to the interview.
Woman’s Weekly New Zealand reviews TSLP.
Matthew appears in New Jersey Monthly.
April 30, Braddock’s Tavern, Medford, NJ – Dinner With An Author to benefit the Literary Volunteers of Burlington Country, Vince Papale is the guest speaker, Matthew will host a table.
March, 2009.
Variety and /Film report that David O. Russell will direct the movie adaptation of TSLP.
TSLP was short-listed for the PEN/Hemingway Award.
Chris Barrett films Matthew reading from TSLP.
TSLP reviewed by The New Zealand Herald.
On March 5th Matthew was the Haddonfield Lions Club’s guest speaker.
February, 2009.
Nancy Pearl included TSLP in Pearl’s Picks, February 2009 (the 9th book down).
Philadelphia, PA – La Salle University – Thursday, February 5, 2009 – Matthew will be doing a reading, Q & A, and book signing.
Collingswood, NJ – Collingswood High School – Wednesday, February 18, 2009 – Matthew spoke to CHS students. For more info, click here.
Collingswood, NJ – The Collingswood Public Library – Tuesday, February 24, 2009 – 7 pm – Matthew will be doing a reading, Q & A, and book signing.
UK – Matthew is NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND’s Author of the Month. To read the interview, click here.
Matthew has also been interviewed by Sixers Review. To read the interview, click here.
January, 2009.
Scotland On Sunday reviews TSLP.
THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK is published in the UK.
Picadorinterviews Matthew.
Matthew appears in South Jersey Magazine.
Plainfield, VT – Goddard College – Wednesday, January 7, 2009 (evening) – Matthew will be doing a reading, Q & A, and book signing.
December, 2008.
THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK is reviewed by Amy Benfer for The Barnes & Noble Review.
Marilyn Dahl of Shelf Awareness tags THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK apick of the year.
THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK is published in Spain under this title UN FINAL FELIZ.
THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK is reviewed by Head Butler.
November, 2008.
Nov. 24, the Philadelphia Inquirer writes about Matthew Quick.
Philadelphia – Saturday, November 1, 2008 @ 6:30 p.m. – 15th annual Borrowers Ball – Free Library of Philadelphia Parkway Central Library 19th and Parkway
October, 2008.
Oct., THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK reviewed by NPR.
Collingswood, NJ – Saturday, October 4, 2008 Matthew will be speaking and signing @ 10 a.m. – Collingswood Book Festival
New York – Wednesday, October 1, 2008 @ 7 p.m. – Reading with Daphne Beal, author of In the Land of No Right Angles, and Matthew Quick, author of THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK – The Mercantile Library Center for Fiction 17 E 47th St, NYC
September, 2008.
In the Morning with Bonnie Grice – Long Island’s NPR station, WLIU 88.3 FM – Tuesday, September 30, 2008 @ 9:45 a.m. – Radio Interview
New York – Sunday, September 28, 2008 @ 11:30 a.m. – Waldorf Astoria Bestseller Brunch: Authors will read from their latest book and/or discuss their work and themselves, then take questions from the audience. The reading/discussion and Q&A will be followed by a book signing. Waldorf Astoria brunch will be served.
TV – NBC Philadelphia – Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008 11:00 a.m. – Matthew will be a guest on the 10! show.
Conversation and signing with Eagles WR HANK BASKETT. Philadelphia – Wednesday, September 24, 2008 @ 6:30 p.m. – Friends Select School 17th & The Parkway Philadelphia, PA
Sept. 22, THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK reviewed by Phillyist.
Sept. 18, TSLP appears in THE NEW YORK TIMES’ New Books section
Philadelphia – Wednesday, September 17, 2008 @ 5 p.m. – AIA Philadelphia AIA Bookstore and Design Center 1218 Arch Street Philadelphia, PA
Sept. 14, BILL LYON reviews TSLP in THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
TV – Fox Philadelphia – Tuesday, September 9, 2008 7:50 a.m. – Matthew will be interviewed live on the Fox morning show.
Sept. 9, to read Matthew’s Book Notes on TSLP, please hit this link: LARGEHEARTED BOY
Sept. 5, TSLP was reviewed by STEPHEN BARBARA, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
“…plucky debut novel…Quick fills the pages with so much absurd wit and true feeling that it’s impossible not to cheer for his unlikely hero.” Allison Lynn, People Magazine, September 8, 2008
The Philadelphia City Paper has excerpted THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. To read the excerpt online click A HIVE FULL OF GREEN BEES.
Boston – Tuesday, September 2, 2008 @ 6 p.m. – “First Time Out: Debut Novelists Share their Work” With Matthew Quick, Brunonia Barry and Amy McKinnon. – Boston Public Library 700 Boylston Street, Orientation Room Boston, MA
August, 2008.
Writer’s Digest has featured Matthew and THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK in the More Notable Debuts section of the October 2008 issue. To read the feature online click HERE.
June, 2008.
THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK reviewed by Publishers Weekly.
May, 2008.
Matthew is now blogging on writing and publishing. His blog, Questioning Q, will be updated every Monday. Please visit weekly.
This just in from Publishers Weekly: “Alvina Ling at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers has bought North American rights for SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR, the debut YA novel by author Matthew Quick, which will pub in fall 2009. In the story, a girl on the fringes of life navigates the pressures of poverty and a neglectful mother while inspiring others to embrace hope. Doug Stewart at Sterling Lord Literistic did the deal.”
February, 2008.
David O. Russell to pen THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK screenplay.
January, 2008.
Goddard College interviews Matthew (click to read).
December, 2007.
The Sun has printed Matthew’s personal essay, “The Whiskey Robe,” in the December issue.
