Emma Copley Eisenberg's 'Fat Swim' Challenges AI and Ozempic Era with Friction-Filled Fiction

Emma Copley Eisenberg's new collection of interlinked short stories, 'Fat Swim,' explores bodies, fatness, queerness, and the friction of living in an age of AI and Ozempic. The book took 12 years to write and breaks from traditional linear fiction to accommodate unruly bodies. Eisenberg funded a billboard reading 'YOUR GUT IS A TERRIBLE THING TO LOSE' using money from a class action lawsuit against AI company Anthropic, which trained its Claude chatbot on her work without consent. The billboard critiques the loss of appetite and desire in the Ozempic era and the cultural losses from AI. Eisenberg's Substack 'Frump Feelings' offers craft advice and criticism of fatphobia in literature. The collection features characters dealing with disordered eating, queer relationships, and the search for embodiment beyond sex. Eisenberg aims for humor and buoyancy, citing a Grace Paley-inspired cherishing of characters. The book was published in May 2026.