Tense usage with dead writers' work

My friend and I discussed some books and their authors the other day. And the question arose. Is it possible to say

Do you like what he writes about?

using Present Simple, although writer did that in the past and he is already dead?

Solution 1:

Do you like what he writes about?

This is an example of the historical present:

n. The present tense used in the narration of events set in the past.

When telling stories about past events, people often switch into present tense, as in I was walking home from work one day. All of a sudden this man comes up to me and says.... This phenomenon, called the historical present, has a long history in English and is found in numerous other languages, both ancient and modern. Linguists have sometimes suggested that the historical present makes stories more vivid primarily by bringing past actions into the immediate present.

thefreedictionary.com

Wikipedia refers to Geoffrey Leech's Meaning and the English Verb, noting that the historical present tense is often used for verbs of communication:

In conversation, it is particularly common with 'verbs of communication' such as tell, write, and say (and in colloquial uses, go) (Leech 2002: 7).

Emphasis mine

Since we experience the past activity of the author's writing in the present activity of reading, it feels just as natural to refer to the writing in the present tense.

Solution 2:

Personally, I tend to be fairly literal in how I speak with people. I would be more prone to use the term, "wrote" versus, "write" unless the author is still actively writing about the subject at hand. Ex: writing another book, novel,or poem in a series.