Swimming Studies

“[Shapton] writes as confidently as she draws, and memorably conjures swimming’s intense, primordial and isolating pleasures . . . Shapton’s prose frequently has the density of poetry.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times

An autobiographical work about how swimming—both competitively and recreationally—has affected Shapton’s life.

The artist Leanne Shapton has written a uniquely radiant autobiography, filtered through her intricate relationship to swimming. In photographs, illustrations, and subtle yet startlingly moving prose, she contemplates the act and rhythm of the sport, and how it’s shaped the contours of her work even after her more ambitious athletic pursuits have slowed.

Swimming Studies is a sleek, enthralling immersion into the author’s childhood in suburbia, her swimming regimen, and her musings on selfhood. Winner of the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award in Autobiography, Swimming Studies is as essential as ever—not just for its timeless, elegant meditation on art, creativity, and passion, but for its rumination on who we are and what we do.