‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Author Harper Lee Dead at 89
Nelle Harper Lee, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the iconic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, has died at age 89.
Born in Monroeville to lawyer Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee, Harper Lee would attend the University of Alabama in her young adulthood, before moving to New York in 1949 to pursue a writing career. On July 11, 1960, J.B. Lippincott & Co. published To Kill a Mockingbird, which was to be Lee’s most successful work, and one of the greatest novels in American history. It also led to one of the most iconic film performances in history, as Gregory Peck won an Academy Award for his portrayal of ultimate do-gooder Atticus Finch in the 1962 film adaptation.
Until the release of lost manuscript Go Set a Watchman last year, which was itself a draft of a wildly different version of To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee never released another novel. In fact, she’d remained relatively secluded from the public spotlight. Lee never married and never had children, although she did serve as caretaker for her sister, Alice.
With To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee’s contribution to literature is beyond measure. Even with just one critical and commercial success to her name, she’s established herself as one of the great American authors of any generation. Rest in peace, Ms. Lee.