Lydia Yuknavitch's memoir, The Chronology of Water, made a splash on the American book scene in 2011, catapulting her to fame and recognition.

Letting memories drift freely across the years, Yuknavitch, who nearly became a professional swimmer, tells a story of survival and overcoming trauma: from a childhood in a dysfunctional family marked by her father's violence, through the alcohol-fueled years of a turbulent adolescence, when dashed hopes were followed by experiments with substances and relationships, to becoming a writer and mother despite loss.

Lydia Yuknavitch writes furiously, in one breath, unvarnishingly laying out her traumatic experiences, relationships with paternal and maternal figures (Ken Kesey and Kathy Acker played an important role in her life), and bodily experiences before readers. A frank, poignant, yet hopeful book about how to swim, how to forge a path to resilience and light. Kristen Stewart makes her directorial debut with this memoir.

Lydia Yuknavitch (born 1963) is an American writer, author of the novels The Book of Joan, The Little Backs of Children, and Dora's Case, as well as the scholarly work Allegories of Violence. Her autobiography, The Chronology of Water, was a finalist for the PEN American Literary Award and won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA) Reader's Choice Award and the Oregon Book Award (2011). Yuknavitch holds a PhD in literature and lives and teaches in Oregon.