Lit Hub Daily: August 8, 2022

• “It appealed to me because it was the perfect encapsulation of an image of myself I was consciously trying to fashion.” Tarek Abi Samra on stealing Kant from a bookstore. | Lit Hub Memoir

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• When stories aren’t enough: Katya Cengel wonders how to write about the war in Ukraine. | Lit Hub Ukraine

• “Innocence about our country’s true beginnings is woven into the American character.” Rinker Buck on the profoundly tragic, hardscrabble flatboating years. | Lit Hub History

• Will McGrath recalls traveling through rural Maine with young children growing older by the minute. | Lit Hub Travel

• Joy Williams considers Curran Hatleberg’s portraits of Florida: “Within each moment rests the aftermath.” | The New Yorker

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• “The voice of the marginalized. The lady of the Navigli. The mad poet. Alda Merini didn’t like these labels, but as one of Italy’s most celebrated literary figures, she couldn’t escape them.” Ilaria Parogni uncovers the story of an overlooked poet. | The New York Times

• Harmeet Kaur talks to Lucy Yu of Yu and Me Books, an Asian American bookstore and community hub in New York City. | CNN

• “The crossword industry really does consist of earnest wordplay lovers donating their time to unpaid mentorships, generally as part of an industry-wide effort to bring new and underrepresented people into crosswords.” Matt Hartman on the labor of crosswords. | The New Republic

• Virginia Beach Public Schools are taking some books off their library shelves in response to parental complaints. | The Virginian-Pilot

• Here’s how a new fellowship is trying to diversify the world of rare and antiquarian books. | MPR News

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Also on Lit Hub: Vanessa Hua addresses the myth of the model minority • How what we eat (and how we eat it) contributes to climate change • Read from Anthony Marra’s latest novel, Mercury Pictures Presents