We’re thrilled to welcome South African author Xander Beattie to London for the launch of his provocative political thriller The President on Sunday, 7 September, 7–9 PM. The evening will be hosted by Dr Jaco Barnard-Naudé, legal professor, author, and poet.
The sought-after artist edition of The President is nearly sold out, but guests will have the first chance to grab the brand-new A6 pocket hardback edition, beautifully printed by Pulp Paperworks in Johannesburg and published by PRONK.
Expect an evening of coming together, conversation, and literary intrigue. There will be a short reading from Xander and a discussion plus Q & A with Jaco. Signed copies of the pocket edition will be available for purchase.
Profits from The President will go to the Pride Shelter Trust in Cape Town, Africa’s first formal haven offering short-term accommodation to LGBTQI+ members in crisis.
About The President
The President is a spicy political thriller. When a salacious fictional story about the nation’s president is published, the ruling party and its supporters are enraged. As pressure grows for the story to be erased, its young author flees into hiding, carrying with him an explosive secret — and plans for revenge.
Deftly plotted and gorgeously told, The President is a nail-biting exploration of bigoted backlash against provocative art. Set in South Africa in 2012, Xander Beattie’s novel is painfully relevant to our contemporary moment, where — in too many places around the world — powerful demagogues scapegoat the marginalised, imperil human rights and brutally suppress artistic expression.
About Xander Beattie
Impactful, immersive and exquisite storytelling meets nuanced and razor-sharp insights about South Africa’s fraught political and cultural milieux.
Xander Beattie is the fiction writing alter ego of Alexander Matthews who started out his 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, his other bylines include the BBC, Mail & Guardian and Business Day. Born in Cape Town (South Africa) in 1988, he has written widely for media, business and non-profits, though fiction is his first (and most enduring!) love.
Xander lives with his husband, two cats and hundreds of books in a remote cabin in Northern California. Subscribe to a swimming pool library, his newsletter, for occasional notes on swimming, reading, nature, and more.
About Dr Jaco Barnard-Naudé.
Dr Jaco Barnard-Naudé (BCom(Law)(cum laude) LLB(summa cum laude)LLD(UP)MA(UCT)) is Professor of Jurisprudence and Co-Director of the Centre for Rhetoric Studies in the Department of Private Law. In the Faculty, Professor Barnard-Naudé currently serves as the Director of Research. He holds a B1-rating from the National Research Foundation (NRF) and is a past recipient of the UCT Fellows Award. In the United Kingdom, Prof Barnard-Naudé was the British Academy’s Newton Advanced Fellow in the Westminster Law & Theory Lab, School of Law at the University of Westminster between 2017 and 2020, and Honorary Research Fellow in the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, University of London in 2019.
Event Information
- Doors open at 7 PM
- Discussion plus Q&A from 7:10 PM - 8 PM
- Signings, networking, and social from 8 PM - 9 PM