Can author be specified in jupyter notebook markdown so nbconvert uses it for PDF article author?

Using VS Code Notebook Editor I can have Python and Markdown cells. Eventually I want make a PDF article using nbconvert and include the author. I can make a nbconvert template that includes the author, but I feel like I'm playing with fire.

Is there a way to include the author directly in the notebook markdown?

FYI, here is how I currently use a template (borrowed heavily from the default article template).

$ python3 -m nbconvert --to pdf --template article2col.tplx --TemplateExporter.exclude_input=True 'MyJupyterNotebook.ipynb'

$ cat article2col.tplx 

((=- Default to the notebook output style -=))
((*- if not cell_style is defined -*))
    ((* set cell_style = 'style_jupyter.tplx' *))
((*- endif -*))

((=- Inherit from the specified cell style. -=))
((* extends cell_style *))


%===============================================================================
% Latex Article
%===============================================================================

((*- block docclass -*))
\documentclass[10pt,twocolumn,a4paper,twoside]{article}
\setlength{\columnseprule}{0.4pt}
\usepackage{titling}
\setlength\droptitle{-3\baselineskip}
\usepackage[raggedright]{titlesec}
% \titlespacing*{\section} {0pt}{3.5ex plus 1ex minus .2ex}{2.3ex plus .2ex}
\titlespacing*{\section} {0pt}{0\baselineskip}{0ex}
((*- endblock docclass -*))

((* block author *))
\author{Author Name Goes Here}
((* endblock author *))