NYT Books

He championed works of cinema that were destined never to have a commercial breakthrough — which, to him, was the whole point.

John Koethe spent decades as a philosophy professor. The poems in his latest collection, “Cemeteries and Galaxies,” are full of reflection and digression and probing.

As an author (often blurring the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction), a film director, a lyricist and a host of TV and radio shows, he sought to capture his epoch.

He survived electroshock treatments and the threat of lobotomy to become one of Ireland’s most popular poets. The Irish Times called him a “literary phenomenon.”

A renowned French scholar and publishing figure, he looked at what societies choose to honor — and forget — in telling their stories.

A renowned French scholar and publishing figure, he looked at what societies choose to honor — and forget — in telling their stories.

His long run with that venerable character was the highlight of a career that also encompassed Spider-Man, Aquaman and best-selling “Star Trek” novels.

“James,” by Percival Everett won the fiction prize, and Jason Roberts received the biography prize for “Every Living Thing.”

He wrote a series of witty police procedurals set in Victorian England and then turned to the present, introducing a cantankerous and technology-averse detective.

In four new collections, a frank look at disability, a celebration of domestic life (and dogs), a gathering of hushed moments and a clutch of myth-inflected reveries.