Lit Hub Daily: July 21, 2021

• “Fire, that trickster’s loot, that gift from the gods, burned more than 4,000,000 acres of my home state last year—a number so vast it is mere abstraction.” Lauren Markham and Jeff Frost on California’s endless season of heat, for The Longest Year: 2020+ Project. | Lit Hub Photography

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• Earl Swift considers what it was like to walk on the moon in 1971. (Hint: it was a lot cooler than Bezos’ joy trip.) | Lit Hub History

• Paul Tran reveals the cover of their new poetry collection, All the Flowers Kneeling. | The Hub

• “Faux meats are not progress, they are a distraction.” Nicolette Hahn Niman on the necessity of regenerative farming. | Lit Hub Food

• S.H. Fernando dives in to the 1983 kung fu film that sparked the genesis of the Wu-Tang Clan. | Lit Hub Music

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• Queer lives: Karen Jaime reflects on the changing culture of the Nuyorican Poets Café. | Lit Hub Poetry

• WATCH: Zakiya Dalila Harris in conversation with Brit Bennett at Greenlight Bookstore. | Lit Hub Virtual Book Channel

• Lizzy Steiner with 8 true crime podcasts to listen to this summer. | CrimeReads

• True Grit, Skippy Dies, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and more rapid-fire book recs from Grady Hendrix. | Book Marks

• What does it mean to be Latino? Héctor Tobar investigates the term on a 9,000-mile road trip across the country. | Harper’s

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• “Weil reminds us of a standard not because she embodied it, but because she pointed to it.” Alexa Hazel on the “unexemplary” Simone Weil. | The Point

• Friends and colleagues remember the life of Anthony Veasna So, on the eve of the release of his first story collection. | The New York Times

• “Once I knew I was going to be writing poems about my memories and childhood sexual abuse, I made sure that I had a therapist.” Donika Kelly on her new poetry collection, handling sensitive material, and the concept of faith. | The Rumpus

• Dana Spiotta unpacks her novel and the struggle to be human. | The Millions

• Chuck Wendig discusses his horror novel, which contains “touches of everything from the supernatural and gothic to the slasher and serial-killer subgenre.” | Shondaland

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• Inside the artistic process of poet William Blake, “a masterful engraver, prolific illustrator, innovative designer, and an artist of astonishing originality.” | Lapham’s Quarterly

• “Once you’re named, you are part of the system in some way, and you’re recognized.” Katie Kitamura on anonymity in narrative. | Los Angeles Times

Also on Lit Hub: Dr. Gwen Adshead on how we (mis)treat mental illness • A poem by Adrian Matejka • Read from Katie Kitamura’s latest novel, Intimacies