Borges' legacy heirs follow María Kodama's path

Forty years after the death of Jorge Luis Borges, his literary estate is being managed by the nieces of María Kodama, the author's last companion. Kodama, who passed away in 2023, inherited Borges' properties, library, and rights to his writings. She led the Borges Foundation, established in 1988, which is now run by five of her nieces and nephews, none of whom originally came from a literary background.

"Since María passed away, we continue with the same activities that were being carried out and focus on new ones to reach new audiences, young people, new generations," María Victoria Kodama, a lawyer and president of the foundation, told EFE. She and her sister Mariana explained that the foundation receives many requests to use Borges' work for film scripts, theatrical adaptations, artificial intelligence projects, and even the ballet of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

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Since María passed away, we continue with the same activities that were being carried out and focus on new ones to reach new audiences, young people, new generations.

The sisters stated that there is no biographical film project about Borges currently, but they are not opposed to one, provided "fiction does not surpass reality." Borges, who came from a literary family and impoverished upper class in Buenos Aires, had to write in various formats, including film criticism, magazine articles, and advertising, while trying to gain recognition in intellectual circles. His library, filled with rare and old volumes, is academically valuable because Borges was a "reader-librarian" capable of unique interpretations of classical literature, which he noted in the margins with his tiny handwriting. The foundation plans to digitize these volumes, which are currently stored under controlled temperature, humidity, and light exposure.

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fiction does not surpass reality