Xander Beattie

@xander.aswimmingpoollibrary.net.ap.brid.gy

Novelist who wrote The President (PRONK, 2025). Collector of fountain pens, secondhand books and swimming spots. 🌉 bridged from https://aswimmingpoollibrary.net/ on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/

1 followers0 following29 stories

Longform Stories

a stoep of one's own

Voluntary, temporary, beguiling creative exile.

6d ago·2 min read·356 words

those shawarmas tho

The Syrian Rose and other Johannesburg highlights.

May 27·6 min read·1117 words

the centre cannot hold

(Yet somehow Joburg's does.)

May 24·5 min read·806 words

The President's birthday

One year on. Four editions later. What comes next?

May 16·6 min read·1050 words

secret police interrogation technique

Autocracies take note!

May 15·2 min read·203 words

the early dark

The land of sudden evenings.

May 8·1 min read·8 words

the men's salah room

(And other things spotted at the Fees.)

May 4·1 min read·11 words

when looking up is like opening a window

Cape Town's green heart.

Apr 23·1 min read·12 words

The sisterhood of the travelling prints

Finding home amongst printed pages.

Apr 8·1 min read·11 words

the best part was the venue

The setting, oh my, the setting.

Apr 2·1 min read·12 words

friendship super store

(And other things observed around Cape Town.)

Mar 29·1 min read·10 words

patient waiting

After spinal surgery.

Mar 23·1 min read·5 words

the kiepersols will see you now

Visiting Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens on a cloudy day.

Mar 21·1 min read·14 words

you have to be prepared to wait

On first drafts, perseverance and patience.

Mar 15·1 min read·13 words

in praise of the public swimming pool

A pictorial / homage.

Mar 14·1 min read·11 words

scenes from a campus story

A very sexy law faculty.

Mar 8·1 min read·10 words

Veld fires and sunburnt Germans

Cape Town needs all the water pistols it can get.

Mar 1·1 min read·15 words

as streetlights begin stroking the sky’s underbelly

The dusk is busier now.

Feb 18·1 min read·12 words

“The label wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t moved to San Francisco.”

An interview with Josh Cheon, owner of the San Francisco-based indy record label and publisher Dark Entries.

Feb 9·1 min read·28 words

a Sea Point pilgrimage

It's wonderful to be back.

Jan 30·1 min read·9 words

the last days

Inside a soft, smothering storm.

Jan 4·1 min read·8 words

back at the ranch

The Sea Ranch between storms.

Dec 28·1 min read·9 words

around town

Scenes from San Francisco.

Dec 20·1 min read·6 words

winter in Los Angeles

Sun. Yum.

Dec 11·1 min read·6 words

hills like islands

California from the window seat.

Dec 9·1 min read·8 words

a flâneur in San Francisco

Scenes from strolls around town.

Nov 28·1 min read·10 words

ruins, remnants

[fragments from Rome]

Oct 21·1 min read·5 words

echoes of sun on water

In a gallery. On a boat. A year apart.

Sep 22·1 min read·14 words

familiar blues

Swimming in the same places, through similar feelings.

Sep 19·1 min read·10 words