diff --git a/python/ray/experimental/shuffle.py b/python/ray/experimental/shuffle.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6b7936ddf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/ray/experimental/shuffle.py
@@ -0,0 +1,213 @@
+"""A simple distributed shuffle implementation in Ray.
+
+This utility provides a `simple_shuffle` function that can be used to
+redistribute M input partitions into N output partitions. It does this with
+a single wave of shuffle map tasks followed by a single wave of shuffle reduce
+tasks. Each shuffle map task generates O(N) output objects, and each shuffle
+reduce task consumes O(M) input objects, for a total of O(N*M) objects.
+
+To try an example 10GB shuffle, run:
+
+    $ python -m ray.experimental.shuffle \
+        --num-partitions=50 --partition-size=200e6 \
+        --object-store-memory=1e9
+
+This will print out some statistics on the shuffle execution such as:
+
+    --- Aggregate object store stats across all nodes ---
+    Plasma memory usage 0 MiB, 0 objects, 0.0% full
+    Spilled 9487 MiB, 2487 objects, avg write throughput 1023 MiB/s
+    Restored 9487 MiB, 2487 objects, avg read throughput 1358 MiB/s
+    Objects consumed by Ray tasks: 9537 MiB.
+
+    Shuffled 9536 MiB in 16.579771757125854 seconds
+"""
+
+from typing import List, Iterable, Tuple, Callable, Any
+
+import ray
+from ray import ObjectRef
+
+# TODO(ekl) why doesn't TypeVar() deserialize properly in Ray?
+# The type produced by the input reader function.
+InType = Any
+# The type produced by the output writer function.
+OutType = Any
+# Integer identifying the partition number.
+PartitionID = int
+
+
+class ObjectStoreWriter:
+    """This class is used to stream shuffle map outputs to the object store.
+
+    It can be subclassed to optimize writing (e.g., batching together small
+    records into larger objects). This will be performance critical if your
+    input records are small (the example shuffle uses very large records, so
+    the naive strategy works well).
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.results = []
+
+    def add(self, item: InType) -> None:
+        """Queue a single item to be written to the object store.
+
+        This base implementation immediately writes each given item to the
+        object store as a standalone object.
+        """
+        self.results.append(ray.put(item))
+
+    def finish(self) -> List[ObjectRef]:
+        """Return list of object refs representing written items."""
+        return self.results
+
+
+def round_robin_partitioner(input_stream: Iterable[InType], num_partitions: int
+                            ) -> Iterable[Tuple[PartitionID, InType]]:
+    """Round robin partitions items from the input reader.
+
+    You can write custom partitioning functions for your use case.
+
+    Args:
+        input_stream: Iterator over items from the input reader.
+        num_partitions: Number of output partitions.
+
+    Yields:
+        Tuples of (partition id, input item).
+    """
+    i = 0
+    for item in input_stream:
+        yield (i, item)
+        i += 1
+        i %= num_partitions
+
+
+def simple_shuffle(
+        *,
+        input_reader: Callable[[PartitionID], Iterable[InType]],
+        input_num_partitions: int,
+        output_num_partitions: int,
+        output_writer: Callable[[PartitionID, List[ObjectRef]], OutType],
+        partitioner: Callable[[Iterable[InType], int], Iterable[
+            PartitionID]] = round_robin_partitioner,
+        object_store_writer: ObjectStoreWriter = ObjectStoreWriter,
+) -> List[OutType]:
+    """Simple distributed shuffle in Ray.
+
+    Args:
+        input_reader: Function that generates the input items for a
+            partition (e.g., data records).
+        input_num_partitions: The number of input partitions.
+        output_num_partitions: The desired number of output partitions.
+        output_writer: Function that consumes a iterator of items for a
+            given output partition. It returns a single value that will be
+            collected across all output partitions.
+        partitioner: Partitioning function to use. Defaults to round-robin
+            partitioning of input items.
+        object_store_writer: Class used to write input items to the
+            object store in an efficient way. Defaults to a naive
+            implementation that writes each input record as one object.
+
+    Returns:
+        List of outputs from the output writers.
+    """
+
+    @ray.remote(num_returns=output_num_partitions)
+    def shuffle_map(i: PartitionID) -> List[List[ObjectRef]]:
+        writers = [object_store_writer() for _ in range(output_num_partitions)]
+        for out_i, item in partitioner(input_reader(i), output_num_partitions):
+            writers[out_i].add(item)
+        return [c.finish() for c in writers]
+
+    @ray.remote
+    def shuffle_reduce(i: PartitionID,
+                       *mapper_outputs: List[List[ObjectRef]]) -> OutType:
+        input_objects = []
+        assert len(mapper_outputs) == input_num_partitions
+        for obj_refs in mapper_outputs:
+            for obj_ref in obj_refs:
+                input_objects.append(obj_ref)
+        return output_writer(i, input_objects)
+
+    shuffle_map_out = [
+        shuffle_map.remote(i) for i in range(input_num_partitions)
+    ]
+
+    shuffle_reduce_out = [
+        shuffle_reduce.remote(
+            j, *[shuffle_map_out[i][j] for i in range(input_num_partitions)])
+        for j in range(output_num_partitions)
+    ]
+
+    return ray.get(shuffle_reduce_out)
+
+
+@ray.remote
+class _StatusTracker:
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.num_map = 0
+        self.num_reduce = 0
+
+    def inc(self):
+        self.num_map += 1
+        print("Num map tasks finished", self.num_map)
+
+    def inc2(self):
+        self.num_reduce += 1
+        print("Num reduce tasks finished", self.num_reduce)
+
+
+def main():
+    import argparse
+    import numpy as np
+    import time
+
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+    parser.add_argument("--ray-address", type=str, default=None)
+    parser.add_argument("--object-store-memory", type=float, default=1e9)
+    parser.add_argument("--num-partitions", type=int, default=5)
+    parser.add_argument("--partition-size", type=float, default=200e6)
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    ray.init(
+        address=args.ray_address, object_store_memory=args.object_store_memory)
+
+    partition_size = int(args.partition_size)
+    num_partitions = args.num_partitions
+    rows_per_partition = partition_size // (8 * 2)
+    tracker = _StatusTracker.remote()
+
+    def input_reader(i: PartitionID) -> Iterable[InType]:
+        for _ in range(num_partitions):
+            yield np.ones(
+                (rows_per_partition // num_partitions, 2), dtype=np.int64)
+        tracker.inc.remote()
+
+    def output_writer(i: PartitionID,
+                      shuffle_inputs: List[ObjectRef]) -> OutType:
+        total = 0
+        # TODO(ekl) using ray.wait can be more efficient for pipelining.
+        for obj_ref in shuffle_inputs:
+            arr = ray.get(obj_ref)
+            total += arr.size * arr.itemsize
+        tracker.inc2.remote()
+        return total
+
+    start = time.time()
+    output_sizes = simple_shuffle(
+        input_reader=input_reader,
+        input_num_partitions=num_partitions,
+        output_num_partitions=num_partitions,
+        output_writer=output_writer)
+    delta = time.time() - start
+
+    time.sleep(.5)
+    print()
+    print(ray.internal.internal_api.memory_summary(stats_only=True))
+    print()
+    print("Shuffled", int(sum(output_sizes) / (1024 * 1024)), "MiB in", delta,
+          "seconds")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()
diff --git a/python/ray/tests/BUILD b/python/ray/tests/BUILD
index 6bb68b854..806f04fe5 100644
--- a/python/ray/tests/BUILD
+++ b/python/ray/tests/BUILD
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ py_test_module_list(
     "test_queue.py",
     "test_ray_debugger.py",
     "test_ray_init.py",
+    "test_shuffle.py",
     "test_tempfile.py",
   ],
   size = "small",
diff --git a/python/ray/tests/test_shuffle.py b/python/ray/tests/test_shuffle.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..31a62f691
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/ray/tests/test_shuffle.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import pytest
+import sys
+
+from ray.experimental import shuffle
+
+
+def test_shuffle():
+    shuffle.main()
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(pytest.main(["-v", __file__]))