Toner Quinn is a writer, musician, editor, publisher and lecturer. Born in Galway and raised in An Cheathrú Rua in the Conamara Gaeltacht and Bray, Co. Wicklow, he studied music in Waterford and publishing at the University of Stirling in Scotland.

In 2000, he founded JMI – The Journal of Music in Ireland (later The Journal of Music), a magazine of new writing on music that won the 2010 Utne Independent Press Award for arts coverage. Over the past 25 years he has edited the Journal and written widely on Irish music and culture. His recent book, What Ireland Can Teach the World About Music (2024), a collection of his essays, was described in the Irish Times as ‘A formidable collection… a richly textured, all‑embracing compendium … Collecting so many well-argued pieces in one place underscores the heft of Quinn’s writing.’ 

In 2025, he edited Count Me Out: Selected Writings of Filmmaker Bob Quinn and, with Jerry White, co-edited The Radical Thinking of Desmond Fennell, a collection of essays by the late Irish writer.

He was Project Officer with the Special Committee on the Traditional Arts (2004), which produced the report Towards a Policy for the Traditional Arts, and he also authored the Arts Council’s Report on the Harping Tradition in Ireland (2014). A fiddle player, he released Live at the Steeple Sessions with Malachy Bourke on the Ergodos label in 2013.

Since 2008, he has lectured in publishing and editing on the MA in Literature and Publishing at the University of Galway, and also teaches music writing and editing at Maynooth University.