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How Visions of Freediving Helped Diane Mehta Finish Her Novel

How Visions of Freediving Helped Diane Mehta Finish Her Novel

The Author of "Happier Far" Reflects on Racism and the Religious Experience of Underwater Immersion

By Diane Mehta | March 17, 2025

On the Time Benjamin Franklin, American Show-Off, Jumped Naked Into the Thames

On the Time Benjamin Franklin, American Show-Off, Jumped Naked Into the Thames

Vicki Valosik on Our Millennia Long Love-Hate Relationship With Getting in the Water

By Vicki Valosik | June 27, 2024

No Perfect Laps, No Perfect Drafts: Jade Song on What Swimming Taught Her About Writing

No Perfect Laps, No Perfect Drafts: Jade Song on What Swimming Taught Her About Writing

The Author of “Chlorine” Reflects on Being a Teenage Athlete and the Dangers of Perfectionism

By Jade Song | March 28, 2024

Seven Swims: Omar El Akkad Chronicles a Life In Water

Seven Swims: Omar El Akkad Chronicles a Life In Water

“The sense of drowning comes with a clarity of sorts: you get to know intimately, if only for a few seconds.”

By Omar El Akkad | June 16, 2023

“There’s No Story to Tell About Swimming.” Madeleine Watts on How to Quiet the Mind

“There’s No Story to Tell About Swimming.” Madeleine Watts on How to Quiet the Mind

When I’m Not Writing, a Series About Writers and Their Hobbies">Introducing When I’m Not Writing, a Series About Writers and Their Hobbies

By Madeleine Watts | December 5, 2022

In Praise of the Glorious Deliverance of Swimming

In Praise of the Glorious Deliverance of Swimming

Michael Parker on Worshipping Water, in Life and Fiction

By Michael Parker | November 21, 2022

Best Reviewed
Books of the Week

The Ocean is a Lesbian: Notes on Queer Women and Water

By Julia Armfield | July 12, 2022

In Praise of the Greatest Book About Swimming Ever Written

By Daniel Shailer | July 11, 2022

Julie Otsuka on Writing Memory Loss and the Power of the First-Person Plural

By Jane Ciabattari | February 22, 2022

Julie Otsuka on Writing Her Most Personal Story

Julie Otsuka on Writing Her Most Personal Story

The Literary Life Podcast">In Conversation with Mitchell Kaplan on The Literary Life Podcast

By The Literary Life | February 11, 2022

Kinds of Blue: On the Human Need to Swim

Kinds of Blue: On the Human Need to Swim

Karen Lloyd Considers the Swan, the Damselfly, and How We Muster Resilience

By Karen Lloyd | November 5, 2021

Rebecca Mead on Finding Ways to Keep Reporting Through Lockdown

Rebecca Mead on Finding Ways to Keep Reporting Through Lockdown

The Quarantine Tapes">In Conversation with Paul Holdengräber on The Quarantine Tapes

By The Quarantine Tapes | July 9, 2021

Robert Macfarlane on Roger Deakin and the Origins of Wild Swimming

Robert Macfarlane on Roger Deakin and the Origins of Wild Swimming

Waterlog ">Rereading the Classic Waterlog

By Robert Macfarlane | May 26, 2021

Elizabeth McCracken on Savoring the Mystery of Writing

Elizabeth McCracken on Savoring the Mystery of Writing

“Some mysteries must be left alone.”

By Elizabeth McCracken | April 30, 2021

Arrested For Wearing a Bathing Suit: Life as an Early Female Swimmer

Arrested For Wearing a Bathing Suit: Life as an Early Female Swimmer

Howard Means on Annette Kellerman

By Howard Means | June 29, 2020

Why Do We Swim?

Why Do We Swim?

Bonnie Tsui on Confronting the Open Water

By Bonnie Tsui | April 16, 2020

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