Dear Geist,

How do I go about publishing a short text—really a coda to a published book—that I edited some time ago? Twelve years ago my Aunt Laverne, a born traveller, wrote her memoirs, and I helped her self-publish them in a book, which sold pretty well. Over the years she mentioned other material that she hadn’t included, saying she had made brash predictions that couldn’t be backed up. Now, after twelve years, the rest of the stories have turned up in a small packet where she had neatly laid them, and they are brilliant. In them, Laverne has predicted the current world migration crisis and the shocking failure of governments to act.

It’s time for Laverne’s whole work to be available to readers. She didn’t name a literary executor, but I edited the first book and guided her through the self-publishing steps. Can I go ahead and publish a new edition of the original book, with an editor’s note and a section at the end for the found bits?

—Named for Laverne, Toronto

Dear Named,

First, a disclaimer: We are not lawyers and nothing you read in Advice for the Lit-Lorn is to be interpreted as legal advice. If you have any legal concerns, please consult a professional.

The Canadian creator of any work of art, including a book, automatically holds copyright of that work for 50 years past the calendar year in which that creator dies. Very straightforward. But because many writers write until they can no longer do so, it’s not unusual for finished and/or unfinished drafts to be found well after a writer’s passing, with no sign of any wish on the writer’s part to publish them. (Often, however, there is a clear wish that the material not be published.)

Usually it’s an editor, publisher or family member, as in your situation, who finds the work, sees its quality and believes that people will want to read it. Your main (but not only) legal question: Do you have the rights to publish the new work? Your main ethical questions, even if you have the rights, may vary. Would the author have preferred not to publish the material? Would she have preferred to approach a higher-profile publisher?—to name just two possible wrinkles. In the absence of clear instructions from the deceased, such as the appointment of a literary executor, it is usually the heir who has the authority to publish or use any of the writer’s material. Again, it is important to discuss the situation with a lawyer experienced in these matters. There are more small points than most laypeople have ever heard of.

In the meantime, just for balance, let's salute Max Brod (1884–1968), who was instructed by his friend Franz Kafka to burn Kafka’s papers, and who spent not one conflicted moment in ignoring his friend’s request, which is why today we have Amerika, The Castle, The Trial and other works.

—The Editors