The President by Xander Beattie

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, queer author flees into hiding, carrying with him an explosive secret – and plans for revenge. The President is a provocative and propulsive political thriller. It is inspired, in part, by the vicious real-life backlash to Brett Murray’s painting, The Spear, which controversially depicted South Africa’s then-president, Jacob Zuma. Set in South Africa in 2012, Xander Beattie’s debut novel is painfully relevant to our contemporary moment globally, where – in too many places – powerful demagogues scapegoat the marginalised, imperil human rights and brutally suppress artistic expression.