ABU DHABI BUBBLE BUTT, a recollection

15pp., paperback, Dik-Dik Editions, Cape Town, 2026

 Xander Beattie recounts his brief relationship with a NYU-Abu Dhabi student while on a visit to the United Arab Emirates.

An earlier version of this essay appeared in Human Parts in 2019 under the title "Being Gay in Abu Dhabi".

Xander Beattie is the fiction writing alter ego of journalist, arts critic and editor Alexander Matthews. He began his media career in London as an assistant to MONOCLE’s editor-in-chief, and later served as the magazine’s Southern Africa correspondent. His journalism has been published by the BBC, Mail & Guardian and Business Day amongst others. Born in Cape Town in 1988, he lives in a remote cabin in Northern California. His debut novel, The President, was published in 2025.