Paul Marion in Liverpool, England

Growing up in Lowell and Dracut, Paul Marion describes music and baseball as “constants of his youth.” It is therefore unsurprising that figures ranging from Paul Tsongas and Jack Kerouac, to Tony Conigliaro and Bob Dylan, figure prominently in his latest book, “Portraits Along the Way: 1976-2024.”

Released in September of 2024 by the company he himself founded in 1978, Loom Press, Marion describes “Portraits” as writing “about people I have observed because I don’t want to lose the experience. I’ve kept the people in this book around me. We are a community. I want readers to know them.”

Besides those mentioned above, readers will recognize Bette Davis, Johnny Depp, Maya Angelou, Billy Joel and Joan Baez, among others. And yet the book is also about those Marion describes as “remarkable men and women, not household names, whom the author encountered up close or at a distance.” 

When not writing or editing, Marion has immersed himself in the rich history of Lowell and its people. As an Administrator for the Department of the Interior in the 1980’s, he helped create the Lowell National Historical Park and is one of the founding fathers of the Lowell Folk Festival.

Along the way, he’s amassed a number of honors including the Local Heroes award from Community Teamwork, Inc. (2008), Thomas Kelakos Community Spirit Award from the Kiwanis Club of Greater Lowell (2012), and UMass Lowell Alumni Award (2016).

Given that backdrop and the wealth of people he’s encountered along the way, readers will likely find “portraits” painting a picture as much about the author as it does the subjects.