A literary executor is a person with decision-making power in respect of a literary estate.

The literary estate of an author who has died will often consist mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including for example film and translation rights. An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created Copyright is a legal concept enacted by Governments, giving the creator of an original work of authorship Exclusive rights to control its distribution usually for Intellectual property ( IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical literary and artistic works inventions and symbols names Film rights are the rights under Copyright law to make a derivative work -- in this case a film -- derived from an item of Intellectual property. Translation is the interpreting of the meaning of a text and the subsequent production of an equivalent text likewise called a " translation It may also include original manuscripts of published work, which potentially have a market value; unpublished work in a finished state or partially completed; and papers of intrinsic literary interest such as correspondence or personal diaries and records. In academia, the German term Nachlass for the legacy of papers is often used. The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages.

Since the literary estate is a legacy to the author's heirs, the management of it in financial terms is a responsibility of trust. "Heir" and "Heiress" redirect here For the men and women fragrances endorsed by Paris Hilton see Heiress (fragrance. The position of literary executor has more to it than the simple monetary aspect, though. An executor, in the broadest sense is one who carries something out (in other words one who is responsible for executing a task Appointment to such a position, perhaps informally, is often a matter of the author's choice during his or her lifetime. If a sympathetic and understanding friend is in the position of literary executor, there can be obvious tensions: what is to be managed is not just a portfolio of intellectual property, but a posthumous reputation. Wishes of the deceased author may have been clearly expressed, but are not always respected. Family members often express strong feelings about privacy of the dead. For example, biographical writing is likely to be of a quite different authority if it is carried out with access to private papers. The literary executor then becomes a gatekeeper.

Examples of literary executors include Max Brod for Franz Kafka, Sir Edward Marsh for Rupert Brooke, Robert Baldwin Ross for Oscar Wilde, Robert Hayward Barlow for H. P. Lovecraft and Otto Nathan for Albert Einstein. Max Brod ( May 27, 1884 – December 20, 1968) was an Austrian - Jewish Author, Composer, and Journalist Sir Edward Howard Marsh ( November 18, 1872 – January 13, 1953) born to Professor Howard Marsh of Downing College Cambridge was a British Rupert Chawner Brooke (middle name sometimes given as Chaucer) was an English Poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World Robbie Ross links here for the Australian rugby league players see Robbie Ross (rugby league. Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900 was an Irish Playwright, Novelist, poet and Author of Robert Hayward Barlow ( 18 May 1918 – 2 January 1951) was an American Author, Anthropologist and Historian Howard Phillips Lovecraft ( August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of horror, fantasy Otto Nathan (1893-1987 was an Economist who taught at Princeton University (1933-35 New York University (1935-42 Vassar College (1942-44 Albert Einstein ( German: ˈalbɐt ˈaɪ̯nʃtaɪ̯n; English: ˈælbɝt ˈaɪnstaɪn (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955 was a German -born theoretical If Brod had followed Kafka's expressed wishes on the destruction of his papers, Kafka's current reputation would be almost nonexistent. ^[1]. A particularly notorious example is Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche for Friedrich Nietzsche, as she even resorted to fraud to make her brother's Nachlass more compatible with Nazi ideology. Therese Elisabeth Alexandra Förster-Nietzsche ( July 10, 1846 Röcken, Germany, - November 8, 1935 Weimar, Germany Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15 1844 August 25 1900 ( was a nineteenth-century German philosopher and classical philologist ^[2] The older examples of such appointments, such as Kenelm Digby for Ben Jonson, are essentially editorial rather than legal. Sir Kenelm Digby ( July 11 1603 &ndash June 11 1665) was born at Gayhurst, Buckinghamshire, England. Benjamin Jonson ( c 11 June 1572 &ndash 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance Dramatist A contemporary case is Christopher Tolkien's work on J. R. R. Tolkien's papers. Christopher Reuel Tolkien (born 21 November 1924 is the youngest son of the Author J

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