Alabama's Nelle Harper Lee is known for her book, "To Kill a Mockingbird," and shares many similar life experiences with her main character, Scout Finch.Lee grew up in the 1930s in Monroeville, Alabama. She loved reading and her father was a lawyer. She was 6 years old when the Scottsboro trials happened.Unlike Finch, Lee attended school and went on to a private school for women before attending the University of Alabama. She also studied at Oxford.In 1949, she moved to New York, where she wrote a lot of short stories and essays. None of them were published, but an agent encouraged her to write one of the essays into a book. That book, through different rewritings, became "To Kill a Mockingbird" in 1960.It became popular instantly, although it also drew criticism from critics. A 1962 film adaptation was honored with awards and helped change some of the critics' minds.She gave very few interviews during her life, preferring to remain out of the spotlight.>> FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in 2007.Lee didn't publish another piece of fiction until she released a sequel decades later, which is now considered the first draft of "To Kill a Mockingbird" with some repeated sections. "Go Set a Watchman" was released in 2015.She died in 2016 in Monroeville at the age of 89.>> COMING TOGETHER: Project CommUNITY
MONROEVILLE, Ala. — Alabama's Nelle Harper Lee is known for her book, "To Kill a Mockingbird," and shares many similar life experiences with her main character, Scout Finch.
Lee grew up in the 1930s in Monroeville, Alabama. She loved reading and her father was a lawyer. She was 6 years old when the Scottsboro trials happened.
Unlike Finch, Lee attended school and went on to a private school for women before attending the University of Alabama. She also studied at Oxford.
In 1949, she moved to New York, where she wrote a lot of short stories and essays. None of them were published, but an agent encouraged her to write one of the essays into a book. That book, through different rewritings, became "To Kill a Mockingbird" in 1960.
It became popular instantly, although it also drew criticism from critics. A 1962 film adaptation was honored with awards and helped change some of the critics' minds.
Silver Screen Collection
American actress Mary Badham (in costume as Scout) sits in a tire swing held by Pulitzer Prize winning author Harper Lee (1926 - 2016) on the set of the film version of the latter’s novel ’To Kill a Mockingbird’ (directed by Robert Mulligan), 1962. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
She gave very few interviews during her life, preferring to remain out of the spotlight.
>> FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL: | | |
She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in 2007.
Chip Somodevilla
WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 05: U.S. President George W. Bush (L) hangs a Presidential Medal of Freedom on the neck of Harper Lee (C), Pulitzer Prize winner and the author of "To Kill A Mockingbird," during a presentation ceremony for the medal’s 2007 recipients in the East Room of the White House November 5, 2007 in Washington, DC. The Medal of Freedom is given to those who have made remarkable contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, culture, or other private or public endeavors. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Lee didn't publish another piece of fiction until she released a sequel decades later, which is now considered the first draft of "To Kill a Mockingbird" with some repeated sections. "Go Set a Watchman" was released in 2015.
She died in 2016 in Monroeville at the age of 89.
>> COMING TOGETHER: Project CommUNITY
