Harper Lee (1926-2016) was an American author known for her novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which is considered a classic of modern American literature. She was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama.
Lee grew up in a small town in Alabama, and her father was a lawyer and member of the state legislature. She studied law at the University of Alabama but eventually left to pursue a career in writing. In the 1950s, Lee moved to New York City to focus on her writing.
In 1960, Lee published “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which quickly became a bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize. The novel explores themes of racial injustice and the loss of innocence through the eyes of a young girl in the South. It has been praised for its insights into the complexities of the human condition and its contributions to the civil rights movement.
Despite the critical success of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Lee did not publish any other novels for many years. She spent much of her life out of the public eye and was known for her reclusiveness.
In 2015, a manuscript that Lee had written before “To Kill a Mockingbird” was discovered and published under the title “Go Set a Watchman.” The novel is a sequel to “To Kill a Mockingbird” and explores the same themes of racial injustice and social inequality.
Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007 for her contributions to American literature. She died on February 19, 2016, in Monroeville, Alabama, at the age of 89.
Today, Lee is remembered as one of the most important writers of the 20th century, and “To Kill a Mockingbird” continues to be widely read and studied in schools and universities around the world.
