Interview With Bonnie Tsu, author of Why We Swim

April 14, 2020 | By Bonnie Tsui | Reply More

Humans, unlike other animals that are drawn to water, are not natural-born swimmers. We must be taught. Our evolutionary ancestors learned for survival; now in the 21st century we swim in freezing Arctic waters and piranha‑infested rivers to test our limits. Swimming is an introspective and silent sport in a chaotic and noisy age, it’s therapeutic for both the mind and body, and it’s an adventurous way to get from point A to point B. It’s also one route to that elusive, ecstatic state of flow. These reasons, among many others, make swimming one of the most popular activities in the world.

Why We Swim is propelled by stories of Olympic champions, a Baghdad swim club that meets in Saddam Hussein’s palace pool, modern‑day Japanese samurai swimmers, even an Icelandic fisherman who improbably survives a wintry six‑hour swim after a shipwreck. New York Times contributor Bonnie Tsui, a swimmer herself, dives into the deep from the San Francisco Bay to the South China Sea, investigating what seduces us to water, despite its dangers, and why we come back to it again and again. She offers an immersive, unforgettable, and eye-opening perspective on swimming—and of human behavior itself.

We are delighted to feature this interview with Bonnie!

Tell us about your beginning, where are you from?

I was born in Queens, New York, to a swimming family. I was a bookish kid, but a jock, too — I swam from a young age, joined the swim team, and became a lifeguard like my dad. Water has always been the place I feel most at home.

Can you tell us a bit about WHY WE SWIM? What inspired you to write it?

It’s a cultural and scientific exploration of our human relationship with water and swimming. My parents met in a swimming pool in Hong Kong; our early life as a family revolved around the water. As a journalist, I wanted to use this origin story as a jumping-off point to tell other people’s amazing tales of survival, well-being, community, competition, and flow.

What would be your 6 word memoir?

“Do you have any salty snacks?”

What is the best writing advice you’ve ever had, and the worst?

I think the best advice about writing has to do with not being precious about it. Framing the act of writing as work is useful — you have to sit down and get the work done. It doesn’t just come down from the ether. It can be magic, but it isn’t always. The worst pretends that it is effortless.

What is your writing process like? Are you a pantser or a plotter?

Hah! Somewhere in between.

Do you need a special place to write?

Not really. I actually really like to mix it up — I get twitchy and bored if I am in the same place every day.

Are you part of a writing community or a writing group?

Yes, I’ve been fortunate to be a part of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto since 2012, and a smaller community in Oakland, too.

What is your experience with social media as a writer? Do you find it distracts you or does it provide inspiration?

I was a late adopter of social media. But I have found that Twitter can be funny, poignant, and generous, and a surprising way to connect with the world.

Who are your favorite authors?

Ann Patchett, Tayari Jones, Ted Chiang, Susan Orlean, Yaa Gyasi, Atul Gawande, Jesmyn Ward, Ariel Levy, Celeste Ng, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Louise Erdrich. Not an exhaustive list.

What are you reading currently?

I’ve been gobbling books up right and left — just finished Lily King’s Writers & Lovers and Emily St. John Mandel’s The Glass Hotel. About to start Julia Alvarez’s Afterlife, which is tremendously exciting to me. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents had such influence on my girlhood and early writerhood.