The word author generally refers to a person who is the creator of a written work.

# The author of a book, story, article or the like, is the person who has written it (or is writing it). This can be short or long, fiction or nonfiction, poetry or prose, technical or literature; in particular it is a profession (doing this for pay). # The Author Function in literary theory is the writer of a work as seen by the reader. Each work by the same author has a separate Author Function, and each work by numerous or unknown authors has a single distinct Author Function. # An author is someone who originates or causes or initiates something. # To author is to generate or develop an educational resource # The same as definition number 1, but applied to music. The sole fact of creating a sequence of notes, even if they are not written on paper, might give someone the title of author of a melody, chords sequence, arrangement, etc. # In biology, the Author (biology) of the scientific name of a taxon is the person or team who first makes the name available by publication and description. # In Sprite Comics, the term Author is used to refer to an omnipotent character who bears the semblance of the actual author of the comic or their screename (a breach of the Fourth Wall). For example, in the comic Hanging with Wisest Pikachu , the Author takes the form of an anthromorphic wizard Pikachu. The term originates from the Neglected Mario Characters Author character, the first of its kind. Some criticize the Author character, saying that one so omnipotent is inevitably going to become a Mary Sue, but others insist that it s the truest representation of the comic s real author. A similar Author Character exists in fanfiction. The Author Character is related to the Author surrogate.

A putative author is the author of a work as defined by the work rather than the real author. An example is The Dice Man , supposedly written by Luke Rhinehart, who is in fact a fictional character in the book.

The phrase death of the author was popularized by Roland Barthes in his 1968 essay of the same name. The Death of the Author is associated with critical theory. It is used to convey the idea that Text have meaning and an independent existence outside that intended by the author, depending on the context and reader.

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