Swimming Pool

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

As a former world-ranked swimmer whose journey toward naturalization and U.S. citizenship began with a swimming fellowship, Piotr Florczyk reflects on his own adventures in swimming pools while taking a closer look at artists, architects, writers, and others who have helped to cement the swimming pool's prominent and iconic role in our society and culture.

Swimming Pool explores the pool as a place where humans seek to attain the unique union between mind and body.

Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

About the Author

Piotr Florczyk is Assistant Professor of Global Literary Studies at the University of Washington, USA, and an award-winning poet and translator.

His recent books include the poetry collection From the Annals of Krakow, which is based on the testimonies of Holocaust survivors, as well as numerous volumes of translations, including Invisible, the selected poems of Jacek Gutorow, which was named Autumn 2021 Translation Choice by Poetry Book Society in the UK.