Meet the Civilians: Ron Nurwisah

There are a lot of familiar faces (or voices) in Civilians Read this year, but after having lost Erin Balser to the legitimate side of Canada Reads, I needed a replacement. So having experienced his insightful commentary and penchant for provocation first-hand at KIRBC meetings, I asked Ron Nurwisah to step up to the Civilians debate table.

Ron is an online producer at the National Post. He co-founded and helps edit the Afterword, the Post’s books blog. He grew up in Vancouver, B.C. but now calls Toronto home. Ron will be defending Terry Fallis’ The Best Laid Plans.

You were the first one to declare the title you wanted to defend. What drew you to The Best Laid Plans? Was being a bit of an Ali Velshi lookalike?

Because of my job, I get exposed to quite a bit of Canadian political gossip and news and the idea of a satirical novel set in Ottawa struck a chord with me. Also, I think humour is very under-represented in Canada Reads, maybe even in Canadian literature.

My resemblance to Ali Velshi, clearly the handsomest and best-spoken of all the Canada Reads panelists this year, was a coincidental bonus.

As a new recruit to Civilians Read, you don’t have the experience, but you do have the element of surprise on your side. How are you going to make the most of being the x-factor?

I don’t like surprises so I’m going to lay it all out for my other panelists: I like arguing. I did two years of debate at university, I’m comfortable talking about stuff I only half know something about. That being said, there aren’t exactly any wallflowers in the group so I think I’m in good company.

You’re the only panelist here who doesn’t work in publishing proper. How do you think affects your perspective?

Not too much actually. Because of my work at the Afterword I spend a lot of time with people in publishing. If anything, I think my taste and reading habits are actually further away from the average Canadian which might be a bit of a disadvantage. I think a lot of people who work in publishing have practice thinking about what books sell and what won’t. I don’t do too much of that.

You’re never shy about calling out books you don’t like — which of this year’s titles will you be trying to take down?

I think The Birth House has a big shiny, red, bull’s-eye on it. It’s well-written and I liked it, but it feels like a stereotype of so much Canadian literature. You can practically tick them off as you’re reading the book.

Don’t get me wrong, a lot of people enjoy your typical CanLit book, but I think Canada Reads and Civilians Read could push people to enjoy something a bit different.

If you could choose any title to defend in a Canada Reads (or future Civilians Read) competition, what would it be?

I’d actually love the challenge of defending a graphic novel. So something by Seth or Chester Brown (particularly his gorgeous Louis Riel book), Mariko Tamaki’s Skim which was on the longlist would’ve been particularly intriguing. Although, I may not be the best person to defend a coming-of-age book about a girl.

Final words? Campaign slogan?

I’m going to try to channel some of Angus McKlintock’s (the MP from Terry’s novel) no-BS wisdom and straightforwardness. So if I get a really odd Scottish brogue you’ll know why.

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Stay tuned tomorrow for my interview with our final Civilian, Ashleigh Gardner.