NYT Books

Alexander Lefebvre’s new book is a ‘call to action about what we are trying to defend, and why,’ says the head of PEN America, which has been pummeled with disputes about speech, activism and Israel.

An unlovable heroine, a cyborg in search of missing parts, the restoration of a classic work and a series that is always worth the wait highlight four new volumes.

These stories of relationship dramas and evolving partnerships will fill the “Couples Therapy”-sized hole in your life with wisdom, schadenfreude and humor — and sometimes all of the above.

They wanted to know where the poetry and the genre fiction were — and they also wanted to let us know which books were missing.

Peter Schjeldahl’s final book collects the essays and reviews he wrote in the years after a cancer diagnosis.

“Revolution is the job of poets and artists,” says Ko Maung Saungkha, leader of a rebel militia fighting the Myanmar dictatorship. He is not the only poet commander in a country with a strong tradition of political verse.

The Ethiopian American novelist also talks aesthetics and the inspiration behind his most recent novel, “Someone Like Us.”

“Revolution is the job of poets and artists,” says Ko Maung Saungkha, leader of a rebel militia fighting the Myanmar dictatorship. He is not the only poet commander in a country with a strong tradition of political verse.

Two exuberant new books chronicle the heyday of New York City’s criminal underworld on the Lower East Side.

Our critic talks to Edward P. Jones about how he imagined “The Known World,” recently voted the best work of fiction by an American writer in the 21st century.