Harper Lee

Harper Lee (April 28, 1926 – February 19, 2016) was an American novelist born in Monroeville, Alabama. Her only novel published during her main career, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), set in 1930s Alabama, won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and has sold nearly 50 million copies in more than 40 languages. A second book, Go Set a Watchman, appeared in 2015.[1]

Early life

Lee was the youngest of four children of lawyer Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee. She attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery in 1944-45 and then the University of Alabama, where she studied law and left in 1949 without a degree. She moved to New York that year to write, supporting herself as an airline reservations clerk.[1]

Writing

To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 and won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961. In 1959 Lee helped her childhood friend Truman Capote with research in Kansas for In Cold Blood. She published a few essays in McCall’s and Vogue in the early 1960s and a 1985 essay on A. J. Pickett’s History of Alabama. Go Set a Watchman, an earlier draft set in 1956, was published on July 13, 2015 and sold 720,000 copies in its first 36 hours.[1]

Honours

Lee received the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews and the Alabama Library Association Award in 1961, the Alabama Humanities Award in 2002, the Birmingham Pledge Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007, and the National Medal of Arts in 2010 (presented in 2011). The 1962 film adaptation won Academy Awards for Gregory Peck, Horton Foote and Henry Bumstead. A stage adaptation by Aaron Sorkin was announced in 2016.[1]

Later life

Lee suffered a stroke in 2007 and moved to an assisted living residence in Monroeville, where she died on February 19, 2016. She was buried in Hillcrest Cemetery. The Harper Lee Award honours a distinguished Alabama writer each year; it was presented to Fannie Flagg in 2012 (see Fannie Flagg).[1][2]

Early life and education

Harper Lee was born April 28, 1926, in Monroeville. She attended Huntingdon College and then the University of Alabama, where she studied law but left without a degree.[3]

To Kill a Mockingbird

Her debut novel, published in 1960, won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The 1962 film adaptation won an Academy Award for Horton Foote’s screenplay and Gregory Peck won Best Actor for playing Atticus Finch.[3]

Later life

She was a childhood friend of Truman Capote and accompanied him to Holcomb, Kansas, to research In Cold Blood; the friendship later faded. Go Set a Watchman, an earlier draft released as a sequel, appeared in 2015. President George W. Bush awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007, and she died in her sleep in Monroeville on February 19, 2016, aged 89.[3]

FAQs

Where was Harper Lee born? Monroeville, Alabama.

What prize did To Kill a Mockingbird win? The 1961 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

When was Go Set a Watchman published? July 13, 2015.

Sources

1. Encyclopedia of Alabama: Harper Lee
2. Wikipedia: Fannie Flagg
3. Wikipedia: Harper Lee

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 10, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue