The author Franz Kafka famously demanded that his papers be burned after his death, but his friend and literary executor Max Brod refuse to do it.

NPR: Family Pauses over Woman's Posthumous Request

In 2010 a great friend and literary agent, Lorin Rees talked me into writing a book (www.greggfairbrothers.com) on turning ideas into success, despite the fact I'm no writer, and now here I am writing about leadership and being entrepreneurial in a blog, despite the fact I'm no blogger either.

FORBES: Who is The Entrepreneur: Jen Gabler (on liabilities of adolescence)

Thoreau also built his cabin on land owned by his friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who enjoyed greater literary and worldly success in their day.

FORBES: Thoreau's Idea Hunt, and Ours

My new friend Charles and I sat down with a New York literary critic, a Barcelona restaurateur, and an English lady who just comes to paint every year.

FORBES: Salmon Or Cognac, The Temptations of An Idyllic Refuge in Connemara

When one of my literary heroes, Barry Unsworth, died on June 5, I felt as though I had lost a friend.

WSJ: A Tribute to Barry Unsworth | Dear Book Lover