What is an author?

I have always considered authors to be published writers or famous artists. I have never considered the fact that everyone is an author. I myself have never even thought of myself as an author. Of course, I have written poems, short stories, essays, and research papers, but never really thought deeply about the fact that I was authoring.
In Michel Foucault's passage, he delivers a simple question, what is an author? We as readers sometimes overlook the fact that anyone can be an author. The reading was rather difficult to comprehend in one session, but Michel Foucautt does a good job using examples to relate authors to their work, and how their efforts are meaningful.