Argentine writer and translator María Kodama, widow of the legendary writer Jorge Luis Borges, died on Sunday at the age of 86.

According to local press reports, Kodama died of breast cancer.

The main disseminator of Borges' work was born in Buenos Aires in 1937 to a Japanese father and an Argentine mother.

She graduated in Literature from the University of Buenos Aires and specialised in Saxon and Icelandic writings, making numerous translations into Spanish.

She met the famous Argentine writer in 1953 in a bookshop in the Argentinean capital.

Kodama worked for many years as secretary to the author of "El Aleph".

They married in 1986, shortly before Borges' death in Geneva (Switzerland).

In 1988, Kodama created the Jorge Luis Borges International Foundation, dedicated to preserving the legacy and disseminating the work of the great Argentinean writer.