Author calls London an 'ugly city' in new novel that will challenge local readers
Video | CBC News | Posted: June 26, 2023 7:36 PM | Last Updated: June 26, 2023
Novelist Aaron Schneider also teaches creative writing at Western University
"London, Ontario is an ugly city," reads the first line in Aaron Schneider's new novel The Supply Chain.
The book, published by Crowsnest Books, is a descriptive exploration of the city through the eyes of a main character who works at a factory that supplies armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia.
Londoners will have no trouble recognizing their city and that's what Schneider wants. And despite the first line, he wants readers to know, this novel is not a condemnation but a love story about London. Aaron Schneider spoke to London Morning's Rebecca Zandbergen about the book.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity:
Rebecca Zandbergen: How would you describe your new novel Supply Chain?
Aaron Schneider: I mean, it's a love novel about London, and it's a novel that looks at some of the things that are difficult about London. But that's what makes London really interesting.
RZ: What are those difficult bits?
AS: Well, there's London's relationship to the arms trade. We do manufacture armoured vehicles here. Those vehicles are sold to some fairly unpleasant people. They've pretty strong documentation that they've been used in the war in Yemen, which is a really profoundly tragic event.
RZ: And is it something that bothers you? Is that why you've chosen to write this book?
AS: Yeah, absolutely. It bothers me. But it's also interesting.
RZ: How much research went into writing this book then?
AS: A lot. I'm not from here, I've lived here for 23 years, but part of making this home is researching London, so I spent a lot of time digging into the place.
RZ: What is your lasting feeling now about London after writing the book?
AS: I have an ongoing fascination with this place. This book is not a condemnation of London. I say in the acknowledgements that we hold the things that we wrestle with close, and they hold us in turn. I don't think criticism is necessarily a sign of condemnation. It's a sign of engagement.
For me at least, it's a way of engaging with the place and hoping to try to make a place better. London is this really rich, complicated place that hasn't been written about very much or nearly enough. It's a place I want to continue thinking about and writing about.
LISTEN | Author pens new novel set in the Forest City: