~ from the author of ‘The President’: a personal newsletter and public notebook ~

Hello! I'm Xander Beattie, a novelist, artist publisher and swimmer.

a swimming pool library is the online home for my monthly-ish dispatches (also sent to subscribers' inboxes), as well as occasional conversations, irregular field notes and the odd poem. It's an opportunity to slow down and savour immersions in my favourite things – including printed matter, the creative process and nature (esp. water!). The title is lovingly borrowed from The Swimming-Pool Library, Alan Hollinghurst’s glorious debut novel (which by sheer, fabulous happenstance was first published in 1988, the year I was born). I can’t think of a phrase that more aptly evokes my love of swimming, reading, writing, libraries and (of course) exquisitely written gay novels.

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Last year I published my first novel, The President. This nail-biting queer political thriller is partly inspired by the vicious real-life backlash to Brett Murray’s painting, The Spear (which controversially depicted South Africa’s then-president, Jacob Zuma). The standard paperback edition is available from indie bookstores in the United States, as well as all the usual online suspects (Bookshop.org, Tertulia, Barnes & Noble and that Awful Oligarchical Goliath et al.). Visit the online home of my press, PRONK, to find out more about it (and about The President's other formats, which include a couple of collectable limited editions 😎).

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While fiction is my first (and most enduring!) love, I'm also a longtime journalist, editor and arts critic and have written widely for the press, corporate clients and non-profits. I started out my media career in London as an assistant to MONOCLE’s editor-in-chief, Tyler Brûlé, and later served as the magazine’s Southern Africa correspondent for several years. Running the gamut of politics, culture, the environment and travel, my other bylines have included the BBC, Mail & Guardian and Business Day.

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I live with my husband, two cats and hundreds of books in a remote offgrid cabin in Northern California. I'm currently at work on my next novel and a poetry chapbook. And I'm slowly building PRONK into a fully-fledged small press.

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Lest you feel short-changed and would actually like to see a (virtual) library full of swimming spots, visit my tumblr (also called a swimming pool library).