In Paris on the 9th of October? Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity – a first for Karavan Press – the Paris launch of one of our titles, Salt Water Pool Boy by Peter-Adrian Altini. Peter-Adrian will be in conversation with Nafkote Tamirat. Wish I could attend …
Please join us for this special event, a joint launch of The Fourth Boy by Andrew Robert Wilson and Salt Water Pool Boy by Peter-Adrian Altini at Wordsworth Books Garden Route Mall on Tuesday, 20 May 2025, 17:30 for 18:00. The authors will be in conversation with Karina M. Szczurek.
The literary festival season continues and we are delighted to announce that the following Karavan Press authors will be participating in the Kingsmead Book Fair this year:
Meet the Freckolions and the Spots who are bitterly arguing over Face’s vast landscape. Then one day an alien craft descends on Face and sends the Freckolions and Spots into panic! SA actress Lisa Trudoux introduces her first charming and quirky children’s book Dot To Dot which teaches kids the invaluable lessons of self-love and kindness towards others in the most enchanting way.
Sewela Langeni (Making Friends with Feelings) provides a safe space for Jeffrey Rakabe (Led by Shepherds) and Thobeka Yose (In Silence My Heart Speaks) to chat about transferring pain to the page.
Amy Heydenrych (Chasing Marian) examines the creation of the powerful women at the centre of the works of Zukiswa Wanner (Love Marry Kill), Michelle Kekana (The Fragile Mental Health of Strong Women) and Qarnita Loxton (What’s Wrong with June?).
Penny Haw (Follow Me To Africa: A Novel), Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (The Creation of Half-Broken People) and Louisa Treger (The Paris Muse) discuss facets of historical fiction – beyond the period in which it’s set – that really matter with Michael Boyd (Weight of Shade).
Merle Levin (World According to Merle: Memoir of a Deliciously Daring Granny), Costa Ayiotis (Matriarchs, Meze and the Evil Eye: A Memoir) and Glenn Orsmond (Crash and Burn: A CEO’s Crazy Adventures in the SA Airline Industry) tell Karina Szczurek (Karavan Press) about their weird uncles and the strange lady from the office.
Peter-Adrian Altini (Salt Water Pool Boy) and Charl-Pierre Naudé (The Equality of Shadows) discuss style and complexity with Craig Higginson (The Ghost of Sam Webster).
Khaya Dlanga (Life is Like That Sometimes) and Gavin Evans (Son of a Preacher Man) tell Anna Stroud (Who Looks Inside) about what they have learned while writing about themselves.
Onke Mazibuko (Canary) follows Nick Clelland (Good Hope), Siya Khumalo (The Queer Book of Revelation) and Sam Wilson (The First Murder on Mars) into the detailed, fresh worlds of their books.
Queen bees Karina Szczurek (Karavan Press), Melinda Ferguson (Melinda Ferguson Books) and Zukiswa Wanner (Paivapo Publishing) underline the importance of curating stories from a feminine perspective with Sewela Langeni (Book Circle Capital).
The FLF is just around the corner and we are looking forward to another unforgettable bookish experience. Please join the following Karavan Press authors and Friends for a series of exciting events and workshops throughout the festival weekend:
We are thrilled to invite you to the launch of Salt Water Pool Boy, Peter-Adrian Altini‘s debut novel, at Exclusive Books Cavendish on Wednesday, 14 May 2025, 5.30 for 6PM. Peter-Adrian will be in conversation with Alistair Mackay, author of It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way, The Child and The Lucky Ones. Peter-Adrian is visiting all the way from Paris, where he now lives. Please join us for this special event!
When not caring for his ailing mother, twenty-three-year-old Damon can be found swimming laps at the Sea Point Pavilion. Here he meets the confident Nico, who immediately charms him back to his home. Damon is torn between dealing with his mother’s terminal illness and keeping his sexuality a secret from her. His desire to be truthful is tested when her health takes a turn for the worse, forcing him to choose between his young lover and an unspeakable promise to help end her life. A tender portrait of caregiving, the longing for intimacy and the heartbreak of letting go, Salt Water Pool Boy is a sensual exploration of love and loss charting a young man’s journey from Cape Town to Rome to Paris, from working on a film set in Cinecittà and obsessing over a male prostitute, to trying to salvage his long-term relationship by searching for intimacy in a string of one-night stands. When a casual hookup threatens to open old wounds, Damon realises he has yet to fully come to terms with his troubled past.
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
‘A gifted writer whose work brims with astute emotional insight, tenderness and lyricism.’—Ferdia Lennon, author of Glorious Exploits
‘This novel is a tour de force, delving into the pain and triumph of what it means to live an authentic life, driven by lush sensibility and artistry.’—Nafkote Tamirat, author of The Parking Lot Attendant
‘A devastating exploration of grief, beauty and desire. Salt Water Pool Boy is a compulsive reckoning with what it means to be alive and the lengths we must go to forgive ourselves. Fans of Alan Hollinghurst will adore Peter-Adrian Altini.’—Megan Clement, author of Desire Paths
ISBN: 978-0-6398626-5-1
Publication date: 14 May 2025
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PETER-ADRIAN ALTINI is a South African writer based in Paris. His screenplays have been optioned by production companies in the UK and his short stories have been published in the Fish Anthology (2019), Iron Horse Literary Review (2021), Storgy Magazine (2021), Fluid Anthology (Short.Sharp.Stories) and ADDA Literary Magazine (2023). He was the winner of the Ernst Van Heerden Creative Writing Award and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Salt Water Pool Boy is his debut novel.
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