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'{{pp-semi-indef}} {{pp-move-indef}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2015}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --> | name = Harper Lee | image = Harper Lee Nov07.JPG | imagesize = | caption = | pseudonym = Harper Lee | birth_name = Nelle Harper Lee | birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|4|28}} | birth_place = [[Monroeville, Alabama]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|2|19|1926|4|28}} | death_place = Monroeville, Alabama, U.S. | occupation = [[Novelist]] | period = 1960&ndash;2016 | nationality = American | genre = Literature, fiction | movement = [[Southern Gothic]] | signature = Harper Lee signature.svg | notableworks= ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]''<br/>''[[Go Set a Watchman]]'' | influences = [[Truman Capote]], [[William Faulkner]] }} '''Nelle Harper Lee''' (April 28, 1926 &ndash; February 19, 2016)<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/20/arts/harper-lee-dies.html |title=Harper Lee, Author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ Dies at 89 |work=New York Times |date=2016-02-19 |accessdate=2016-02-19 |last=Grimes |first=William}}</ref> better known by her [[pen name]] '''Harper Lee''' was an American [[novelist]] widely known for her novel ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'', published in 1960. Immediately successful, it won the [[Pulitzer Prize]] and has become a classic of modern [[American literature]]. The plot and characters are loosely based on Lee's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10&nbsp;years old. The novel deals with the irrationality of adult attitudes towards race and class in the [[Deep South]] of the 1930s, as seen through the eyes of two children. The novel was inspired by the racist attitudes she observed as a child in her hometown of [[Monroeville, Alabama]]. Though Lee had published only this single book at the time, she was awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] for her contribution to literature in 2007.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/11/20071105-1.html |title=President Bush Honors Medal of Freedom Recipients |publisher=[[The White House]] |date=November 5, 2007}}</ref> Additionally, Lee received numerous [[honorary degrees]], though she declined to speak on each occasion. Lee is also well known for having assisted her close friend [[Truman Capote]] in his research for the book ''[[In Cold Blood]]'' (1966).<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Guardian |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/04/harper-lee-sues-agent-copyright |date=May 4, 2013 |author=Harris, Paul |title=Harper Lee sues agent over copyright to To Kill A Mockingbird}}</ref> Capote was the basis for Dill, a character in ''To Kill a Mockingbird''.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Harper Lee, elusive author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ is dead at 89|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/harper-lee-elusive-author-of-to-kill-a-mockingbird-is-dead/2016/02/19/a1421368-d71e-11e5-be55-2cc3c1e4b76b_story.html|newspaper = The Washington Post|date = 2016-02-19|access-date = 2016-02-19|issn = 0190-8286|language = en-US|first = Emily|last = Langer}}</ref> In February 2015, Lee's lawyer released a statement confirming the publication of a second novel, ''[[Go Set a Watchman]]''. Written in the mid-1950s, the book was controversially published in July 2015 as a sequel to ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', though it has since been confirmed to be the first draft of the latter.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/opinion/joe-nocera-the-watchman-fraud.html|title=The Harper Lee 'Go Set A Watchman' Fraud|first=Joe|last=Nocera|publisher=The New York Times|date=2015-07-24|accessdate=2015-12-15}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite news |url=http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2015/02/03/harper-lee-second-novel-mockingbird-watchman/22792273 |title=New Harper Lee novel on the way! |first=Ann |last=Oldenburg |date=February 3, 2015 |accessdate=February 3, 2015 |newspaper=USA Today}}</ref><ref name="New York Times February 2015">{{cite news |last=Alter |first=Alexandra |title= Harper Lee, Author of 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' Is to Publish a Second Novel |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/books/harper-lee-author-of-to-kill-a-mockingbird-is-to-publish-a-new-novel.html?_r=0 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 3, 2015 |accessdate=February 3, 2015}}</ref> == Early life == Nelle Harper Lee was born and raised in [[Monroeville, Alabama]], the youngest of four children of Frances Cunningham (Finch) and [[Amasa Coleman Lee]].<ref name="EoABio">{{cite web |last=Anderson |first=Nancy G. |title=Nelle Harper Lee |url=http://eoa.auburn.edu/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1126 |work=The Encyclopedia of Alabama |publisher=Auburn University at Montgomery |accessdate=November 3, 2010 |date=March 19, 2007}}</ref> Her first name, Nelle, was her grandmother's name spelled backwards and the name she used.<ref name="KovaleskiNYTimes">{{cite news |last=Kovaleski |first=Serge |date=March 11, 2015 |title=Harper Lee's Condition Debated by Friends, Fans and Now State of Alabama |url=http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/arts/artsspecial/harper-lees-ability-to-consent-to-new-book-continues-to-be-questioned.html?referrer=&_r=0 |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |location=New York |access-date=March 12, 2015}}</ref> Harper Lee was her [[pen name]].<ref name="KovaleskiNYTimes" /> Lee's mother was a homemaker; her father, a former newspaper editor and proprietor, practiced law and served in the [[Alabama State Legislature]] from 1926 to 1938. Before A.C. Lee became a title lawyer, he once defended two black men accused of murdering a white storekeeper. Both clients, a father and son, were hanged.<ref name=shields /> Lee had three siblings: Alice Finch Lee (1911–2014),<ref name="aliceobit">{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-alice-lee-20141123-story.html |title=Lawyer Alice Lee dies at 103; sister of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' author |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |first=Elaine |last=Woo |date=November 22, 2014}}</ref> Louise Lee Conner (1916–2009), and Edwin Lee (1920–1951).<ref name="louiseobit">{{cite news |url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/gainesville/obituary.aspx?n=louise-l-conner&pid=134447749 |title=Louise L. Conner Obituary |newspaper=The Gainesville Sun}}</ref> While enrolled at [[Monroe County High School (Alabama)|Monroe County High School]], Lee developed an interest in English literature. After graduating from high school in 1944,<ref name="EoABio" /> she attended the then all-female [[Huntingdon College]] in [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]] for a year, then transferred to the [[University of Alabama]] in [[Tuscaloosa, Alabama|Tuscaloosa]], where she studied law for several years and wrote for the university newspaper, but did not complete a degree.<ref name="EoABio" /> == ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' == {{quote|I never expected any sort of success with ''Mockingbird''. I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers but, at the same time, I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. Public encouragement. I hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening as the quick, merciful death I'd expected.|Harper Lee, quoted in Newquist, 1964<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Newquist |editor-first=Roy |title=Counterpoint |location=Chicago |publisher=Rand McNally |year=1964 |isbn=1-111-80499-0}}</ref>}} In 1949, Lee moved to [[New York City]] and took a job as an airline reservation agent, writing fiction in her spare time.<ref name="EoABio" /> Having written several long stories, Lee found an agent in November 1956. The following month, at [[Michael Brown (writer)|Michael Brown]]'s East 50th Street townhouse, she received a gift of a year's wages from friends with a note: "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas."<ref name="nndb">{{cite web |title=Harper Lee |publisher=NNDB.com |url=http://www.nndb.com/people/572/000025497/ |accessdate=May 7, 2007}}</ref> ===Origin=== In the spring of 1957, a 31-year-old Lee delivered the manuscript for ''Go Set a Watchman'' to her agent to send out to publishers, including the now-defunct [[J. B. Lippincott Company]], which eventually bought it.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/books/the-invisible-hand-behind-harper-lees-to-kill-a-mockingbird.html|title=The Invisible Hand Behind Harper Lee's 'To Kill A Mockingbird'|first=Jonathan|last=Mahler|publisher=The New York Times|date=2015-07-12|accessdate=2015-12-15}}</ref> At Lippincott, the novel fell into the hands of Therese von Hohoff Torrey—known professionally as [[Tay Hohoff]]. Ms. Hohoff was impressed. "[T]he spark of the true writer flashed in every line", she would later recount in a corporate history of Lippincott.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> But as Ms. Hohoff saw it, the manuscript was by no means fit for publication. It was, as she described it, "more a series of anecdotes than a fully conceived novel".<ref name="nytimes.com"/> During the next couple of years, she led Lee from one draft to the next until the book finally achieved its finished form and was retitled ''To Kill a Mockingbird''.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Like many unpublished authors, Ms. Lee was unsure of her talents. “I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told,” Ms. Lee said in a statement in 2015 about the evolution from “Watchman” to “Mockingbird.”<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Ms. Hohoff offers a more detailed characterization of the process in the Lippincott corporate history: “After a couple of false starts, the story-line, interplay of characters, and fall of emphasis grew clearer, and with each revision — there were many minor changes as the story grew in strength and in her own vision of it — the true stature of the novel became evident.” (In 1978, Lippincott was acquired by [[Harper & Row]], which became [[HarperCollins]], publisher of ''Watchman.'')<ref name="nytimes.com"/> There appeared to be a natural give and take between author and editor. “When she disagreed with a suggestion, we talked it out, sometimes for hours,” Ms. Hohoff wrote. “And sometimes she came around to my way of thinking, sometimes I to hers, sometimes the discussion would open up an entirely new line of country.”<ref name="nytimes.com"/> As for her relationship with Ms. Lee, it’s clear that Ms. Hohoff provided more than just editorial guidance. One winter night, as Charles J. Shields recounts in ''Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee,'' Ms. Lee threw her manuscript out her window and into the snow, before calling Ms. Hohoff in tears. “Tay told her to march outside immediately and pick up the pages,” Mr. Shields writes.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> When the novel was finally ready, the author opted to use the name "Harper Lee", rather than risk having her first name Nelle be misidentified as "Nellie".<ref>{{cite news |last=Maslin |first=Janet |title=A Biography of Harper Lee, Author of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/books/08masl.html |accessdate=November 30, 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 8, 2006}}</ref> Published July 11, 1960, ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' was an immediate bestseller and won great critical acclaim, including the [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]] in 1961. It remains a bestseller, with more than 30 million copies in print. In 1999, it was voted "Best Novel of the Century" in a poll by the ''[[Library Journal]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=1960, To Kill a Mockingbird |url=http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americannovel/timeline/tokillamockingbird.html |publisher=PBS |accessdate=November 30, 2014}}</ref> === Autobiographical details in the novel === Like Lee, the tomboy Scout of the novel is the daughter of a respected small-town Alabama attorney. Scout's friend, Dill, was inspired by Lee's childhood friend and neighbor, [[Truman Capote]];<ref name=shields>{{cite book |last=Shields |first=Charles J. |title=Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee |year=2006 |publisher=Henry Holt and Co. |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=j8cm3hxUd7MC& |accessdate=2016-02-19}}</ref> Lee, in turn, is the model for a character in Capote's first novel, ''[[Other Voices, Other Rooms (novel)|Other Voices, Other Rooms]]'', published in 1948. Although the plot of Lee's novel involves an unsuccessful legal defense similar to one undertaken by her attorney father, the 1931 landmark [[Scottsboro Boys]] interracial rape case may also have helped to shape Lee's social conscience.<ref>{{cite book |author=Johnson, Claudia Durst |title=To Kill a Mockingbird'': Threatening Boundaries |publisher=Twayne |year=1994}}</ref> While Lee herself has downplayed autobiographical parallels in the book, Truman Capote, mentioning the character Boo Radley in ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', described details he considered autobiographical: "In my original version of ''Other Voices, Other Rooms'' I had that same man living in the house that used to leave things in the trees, and then I took that out. He was a real man, and he lived just down the road from us. We used to go and get those things out of the trees. Everything she wrote about it is absolutely true. But you see, I take the same thing and transfer it into some [[Gothic fiction|Gothic]] dream, done in an entirely different way."<ref>{{cite book |last=Nance |first=William |title=The Worlds of Truman Capote |location=New York |publisher=Stein & Day |year=1970 |page=223}}</ref> {{clear}} == After ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' == === Middle years === After completing ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', Lee accompanied Capote to [[Holcomb, Kansas]], to assist him in researching what they thought would be an article on a small town's response to the murder of a farmer and his family. Capote expanded the material into his best-selling book, ''[[In Cold Blood]]'', published in 1966. From the time of the publication of ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' until her death in 2016, Lee granted almost no requests for interviews or public appearances and, with the exception of a few short essays, published nothing further, until 2015. She did work on a follow-up novel—''The Long Goodbye''—but eventually filed it away unfinished.<ref name="WritersStory">{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/a-writers-story-the-mockingbird-mystery-480965.html |title=A writer's story: The mockingbird mystery |accessdate=August 3, 2008 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=June 4, 2006}}</ref> During the mid-1980s, she began a factual book about an Alabama serial murderer, but also put it aside when she was not satisfied.<ref name="WritersStory" /> Her withdrawal from public life prompted unfounded speculation that new publications were in the works. [[File:Pakulalee.gif|thumb|upright|upright|250px|alt=A black and white photograph of Alan J. Pakula seated next to Harper Lee in director's chairs watching the filming of ''To Kill a Mockingbird''|Film producer [[Alan J. Pakula]] with Lee, who spent three weeks watching the filming of [[To Kill a Mockingbird (film)|''To Kill a Mockingbird'']]<br>in 1962.<ref name="belafonte">Bellafante, Ginia (January 20, 2006). [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/books/30lee.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 Harper Lee, Gregarious for a Day], ''The New York Times''. Retrieved on November 13, 2007.</ref>]] Lee said of the 1962 [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]]–winning screenplay adaptation of ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' by [[Horton Foote]]: "I think it is one of the best translations of a book to film ever made."<ref name=Gregarious>{{cite news |first=Ginia |last=Bellafante |authorlink=Ginia Bellafante |title=Harper Lee, Gregarious for a Day |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/books/30lee.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 30, 2006 |accessdate=August 3, 2008}}</ref> She became a friend of [[Gregory Peck]], and after his death remained close to the actor's family; Peck's grandson, Harper Peck Voll, is named after her.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}} Peck [[35th Academy Awards|won]] an [[Academy Award|Oscar]] for his portrayal of [[Atticus Finch]], the father of the novel's narrator, Scout. In January 1966, President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] appointed Lee to the [[National Endowment for the Arts|National Council on the Arts]].<ref>{{cite news |title=26 to Be Advisory Board for National Endowment |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B01E0DC1F3BEF34BC4051DFB766838D679EDE |accessdate=November 30, 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 28, 1966 |quote=In a parallel development to- day, the President appointed Harper Lee, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "To Kill a Mockingbird." and Richard Diebenkorn, artist, to the National Council on the Arts.}}</ref> In 1966, Lee wrote a letter to the editor in response to the attempts of a [[Richmond, Virginia]], area [[school board]] to ban ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' as "immoral literature": {{Cquote|Recently I have received echoes down this way of the Hanover County School Board's activities, and what I've heard makes me wonder if any of its members can read. Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners. To hear that the novel is 'immoral' has made me count the years between now and 1984, for I have yet to come across a better example of [[doublethink]]. I feel, however, that the problem is one of illiteracy, not [[Marxism]]. Therefore I enclose a small contribution to the Beadle Bumble Fund that I hope will be used to enroll the Hanover County School Board in any first grade of its choice.<ref name=shields />}} [[James J. Kilpatrick]], the editor of ''[[The Richmond News Leader]]'', started the Beadle Bumble fund to pay fines for victims of what he termed "despots on the bench". He built the fund using contributions from readers, and later used it to defend books as well as people. After the board in Richmond ordered schools to dispose of all copies of ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', Kilpatrick wrote, "A more moral novel scarcely could be imagined." In the name of the Beadle Bumble fund, he then offered free copies to children who wrote in, and by the end of the first week, he had given away 81 copies.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,835072,00.html |title=Newspapers: Spoofing the Despots |magazine=Time |date=January 21, 1966 |accessdate=April 29, 2011}}</ref> When Lee attended the 1983 Alabama History and Heritage Festival in [[Eufaula, Alabama]], she presented the essay "Romance and High Adventure".<ref>{{cite book |author=Monroe County Heritage Museums |title=Monroeville: The Search for Harper Lee's Maycomb |date=1999 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |location=Charleston, SC |isbn=978-0-7385-0204-5 |page=21 |accessdate=June 15, 2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MxibzIEUlScC&pg=PA21#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref> Late in 1978, Lee spent some time in [[Alexander City, Alabama]], researching a true-crime book called ''The Reverend''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.al.com/birmingham-news-stories/2010/11/in_search_of_harper_lee.html |title=In search of Harper Lee |publisher=AL.com |first=Kathy |last=Kemp |date=November 10, 2010}}</ref> === 2005–2014 === In March 2005, Lee arrived in [[Philadelphia]] – her first trip to the city since signing with publisher Lippincott in 1960 – to receive the inaugural ATTY Award for positive depictions of attorneys in the arts from the Spector Gadon & Rosen Foundation.<ref>{{cite news |first=Jennifer |last=Reynolds |title=Meeting 'Mockingbird' author Harper Lee |url=http://www.delconewsnetwork.com/articles/2015/02/11/entertainment/doc54d8f5efd8f07732716510.txt |newspaper=Delaware County Daily Times |date=February 11, 2015 |accessdate=March 5, 2015}}</ref> At the urging of Peck's widow, [[Veronique Peck]], Lee traveled by train from Monroeville to Los Angeles in 2005 to accept the [[Los Angeles Public Library]] Literary Award.<ref name=latimes>{{cite news |first=Valerie J. |last=Nelson |title=Veronique Peck dies at 80; Gregory Peck's widow was L.A. philanthropist |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-veronique-peck-20120819,0,1776444.story |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=August 19, 2012 |accessdate=September 2, 2012}}</ref> She also attended luncheons for students who have written essays based on her work, held annually at the University of Alabama.<ref name=Gregarious /><ref>{{cite news |last=Lacher |first=Irene |date=May 21, 2005 |title=Harper Lee raises her low profile for a friend |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> On May 21, 2006, she accepted an honorary degree from the [[University of Notre Dame]], where graduating seniors saluted her with copies of ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' during the ceremony.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Commencement 2006 |url=http://magazine.nd.edu/news/10065-commencement-2006/ |magazine=Notre Dame Magazine |accessdate=November 30, 2014}}</ref> On May 7, 2006, Lee wrote a letter to [[Oprah Winfrey]] (published in ''[[O, The Oprah Magazine]]'' in July 2006). Lee wrote about her love of books as a child and her dedication to the written word. "Now, 75 years later in an abundant society where people have laptops, cellphones, iPods and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/26/AR2006062601039.html |title=Harper Lee Writes Rare Item for O Magazine |date=June 26, 2006 |newspaper=The Washington Post |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> While attending an August 20, 2007, ceremony inducting four members into the [[Alabama]] Academy of Honor, Lee responded to an invitation to address the audience with: "Well, it's better to be silent than to be a fool."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/08/21/author_has_her_say/ |title=Author has her say |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |date=August 21, 2007}}</ref> [[File:Harper Lee Medal.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Lee being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, November 5, 2007]] On November 5, 2007, [[George W. Bush]] presented Lee with the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]]. This is the highest civilian award in the United States and recognizes individuals who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2007/11/harper_lee_given_presidential.html |title=Harper Lee given Presidential Medal of Freedom |newspaper=[[The Birmingham News]] |date=November 5, 2007 |first=Virginia |last=Martin}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7080382.stm |title=Author Lee receives top US honour |publisher=BBC News |date=November 6, 2007}}</ref> In 2010, President [[Barack Obama]] awarded Lee the [[National Medal of Arts]], the highest award given by the United States government for "outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts".<ref>{{cite web |title=Harper Lee |url=http://arts.gov/honors/medals/harper-lee |publisher=National Endowment for the Arts |accessdate=February 4, 2015}}</ref> In a 2011 interview with an Australian newspaper, Rev. Dr. Thomas Lane Butts said Lee now lives in an assisted-living facility, wheelchair-bound, partially blind and deaf, and suffering from memory loss. Butts also shared that Lee told him why she never wrote again, "Two reasons: one, I wouldn't go through the pressure and publicity I went through with ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' for any amount of money. Second, I have said what I wanted to say, and I will not say it again."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/the-town-where-a-mockingbird-lives/story-fn6b3v4f-1226104905164 |title=Miss Nelle in Monroeville |first=Paul |last=Toohey |date=July 31, 2011 |accessdate=August 8, 2011 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph (Australia)|The Daily Telegraph]] |location=Sydney, NSW, Australia}}</ref> On May 3, 2013, Lee had filed a lawsuit in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|United States District Court]] to regain the [[copyright]] to ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', seeking unspecified damages from a son-in-law of her former literary agent and related entities. Lee claimed that the man "engaged in a scheme to dupe" her into assigning him the copyright on the book in 2007, when her hearing and eyesight were in decline, and she was residing in an [[assisted living]] facility after having suffered a stroke.<ref name=bloomberg>{{cite web |url=http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-03/-to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-files-suit-over-copyright.html |title=Harper Lee Sues Agent Over 'Mockingbird' Royalties |first1=Don |last1=Jeffrey |first2=Bob |last2=Van Voris |date=May 3, 2013 |publisher=[[Bloomberg L.P.|Bloomberg]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title='Mockingbird' author Lee sues over copyright in NY |url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/mockingbird-author-lee-sues-over-copyright-ny |agency=AP |accessdate=May 4, 2013}}</ref><ref name="reuters">{{cite news |url=http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/05/03/entertainment-us-usa-mockingbird-lawsuit-idINBRE94210Z20130503/ |title='To Kill a Mockingbird' author Lee sues her agent over copyright |agency=[[Reuters]] |date=May 4, 2013}}</ref> In September, attorneys for both sides announced a settlement of the lawsuit.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2013/09/06/mockingbird-lawsuit-settlement/2778479/K |title=Harper Lee settles 'To Kill a Mockingbird' suit |first=Cara |last=Matthews |newspaper=USA Today |date=September 6, 2013}}</ref> In February 2014, Lee settled a lawsuit against the Monroe County Heritage Museum for an undisclosed amount. The suit alleged that the museum had used her name and the title ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' to promote itself and to sell souvenirs without her consent.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26271278 |title=Harper Lee settles legal action against Alabama museum |work=BBC News |date=February 20, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |agency=Reuters |title=Town dependent on fame of Harper Lee book stung by museum lawsuit |author=Gates, Verna Gates |location=Monroeville, Alabama |date=November 2, 2013 |url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/02/us-usa-alabama-harperlee-idUSBRE9A108B20131102}}</ref> Lee's attorneys had filed a trademark application on August 19, 2013, to which the museum filed an opposition. This prompted Lee's attorney to file a lawsuit on October 15 that same year, "which takes issue the museum's website and gift shop, which it accuses of 'palming off its goods', including t-shirts, coffee mugs other various trinkets with Mockingbird brands."<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Guardian |date=November 1, 2013 |title=Lawsuit divides town which inspired classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/01/harper-lee-monroeville-museum-lawsuit-mockingbird |author=Lewis, Paul}}</ref> ===2015: ''Go Set a Watchman''=== According to Lee's lawyer Tonja Carter, following an initial meeting to appraise Lee's assets in 2011, she re-examined Lee's safe-deposit box in 2014 and found the manuscript for ''[[Go Set a Watchman]]''. After contacting Lee and reading the manuscript, she passed it on to Lee’s agent Andrew Nurnberg.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-i-found-the-harper-lee-manuscript-1436740810|title=How I Found the Harper Lee Manuscript|author=Tonja B. Carter|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=July 12, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/13/harper-lee-third-novel-lawyer-tonja-carter|title=Harper Lee may have written a third novel, lawyer suggests |author=Alison Flood|date=July 13, 2015|work=The Guardian}}</ref> On February 3, 2015, it was announced that HarperCollins would publish ''Go Set a Watchman'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://corporate.harpercollins.com/us/press-releases/425/RECENTLY%20DISCOVERED%20NOVEL%20FROM%20HARPER%20LEE,%20AUTHOR%20OF%20TO%20KILL%20A%20MOCKINGBIRD |title=RECENTLY DISCOVERED NOVEL FROM HARPER LEE, AUTHOR OF TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD }}</ref> which includes versions of many of the characters in ''To Kill a Mockingbird''. According to a HarperCollins press release, it was originally thought that the ''Watchman'' manuscript was lost.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/books/harper-lee-author-of-to-kill-a-mockingbird-is-to-publish-a-new-novel.html|title=Harper Lee, Author of 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' Is to Publish a Second Novel|first=Alexandra|last=Alter|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 3, 2015|accessdate=February 3, 2015}}</ref> According to Nurnberg, ''Mockingbird'' was originally intended to be the first book of a trilogy: "They discussed publishing Mockingbird first, Watchman last, and a shorter connecting novel between the two."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/05/harper-lee-to-kill-a-mockingbird-sequel-go-set-a-watchman|title=Harper Lee's 'lost' novel was intended to complete a trilogy, says agent|author=Alison Flood|date=February 5, 2015|work=The Guardian}}</ref> Jonathan Mahler's account in ''[[The New York Times]]'' of how ''Watchman'' was only ever really considered to be the first draft of ''Mockingbird'' makes this assertion seem unlikely.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Evidence where the same passages exist in both books, in many cases word for word, also further refutes this assertion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://qz.com/452650/harper-lee-revisions|title=See where 'Go Set A Watchman' overlaps with 'To Kill A Mockingbird' word for word|first1=Keith|last1=Collins|first2=Nikhil|last2=Sonnad|publisher=Quartz|date=2015-07-14|accessdate=2015-12-15}}</ref> The book was controversially<ref name="ReferenceA"/> published in July 2015 as a sequel to ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', though it has been confirmed to be the first draft of the latter, with many narrative incongruities, repackaged and released as a completely separate work.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The book is set some 20 years after the time period depicted in ''Mockingbird'', when [[Scout Finch|Scout]] returns as an adult from New York to visit her father in Maycomb, Alabama.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://corporate.harpercollins.com/us/press-releases/425/RECENTLY%20DISCOVERED%20NOVEL%20FROM%20HARPER%20LEE,%20AUTHOR%20OF%20TO%20KILL%20A%20MOCKINGBIRD |title=Recently Discovered Novel from Harper Lee, Author of To Kill a Mockingbird |date=February 3, 2015 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers}}</ref> It alludes to Scout's view of her father, [[Atticus Finch]], as the moral compass ("watchman") of Maycomb,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2015/02/go_set_a_watchman_whats_the_bi.html|title='Go Set a Watchman': What does Harper Lee's book title mean?|work=AL.com|accessdate=February 6, 2015|first=Greg |last=Garrison}}</ref> and, according to the publisher, how she finds upon her return to Maycomb, that she "is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand her father's attitude toward society and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood."<ref name=abc>{{cite web|url=http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/harper-lee-published-july-28687808|title=Second Harper Lee Novel to Be Published in July |publisher=ABC News|accessdate=February 3, 2015}}</ref> The publication of the novel (announced by her lawyer) raised concerns over why Lee, who for 55 years had maintained that she would never write another book, would suddenly choose to publish again. In February 2015, the State of Alabama, through its Human Resources Department, launched an investigation into whether Lee was [[Competence (law)|competent]] enough to consent to the publishing of ''Go Set a Watchman''.<ref name="KovaleskiNYTimes"/> The investigation found that the claims of coercion and [[elder abuse]] were unfounded,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2015-04-04/review-rejects-claims-author-harper-lee-was-coerced-into-publishing-second-book-go-set-a-watchman/1433310|title=Review rejects claims author Harper Lee was coerced into publishing second book 'Go Set A Watchman'|publisher=Radio Australia|date=2015-04-04|accessdate=2015-12-15}}</ref> and, according to Lee's lawyer, Lee was "happy as hell" with the publication.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/to-shill-a-mockingbird-how-the-discovery-of-a-manuscript-became-harper-lees-new-novel/2015/02/16/48656f76-b3b9-11e4-886b-c22184f27c35_story.html| title=To shill a mockingbird: How a manuscript’s discovery became Harper Lee’s ‘new’ novel |work=Washington Post|last=Tucker|first=Neely|author-link=Neely Tucker |date = February 16, 2015|quote=Lee, in a statement released by Carter, said she was “happy as hell” that it was finally being published. The statement also quoted Lee as saying that she recently showed the manuscript to some unnamed friends, who verified its merit, thus convincing her to reverse her long-held decision about not publishing. In the statement, she said that she was young when she wrote it, so when an editor told her to reshape it, “I did as I was told.”|accessdate=July 18, 2015}}</ref> This characterisation however has been contested by many of Lee's friends.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="washingtonpost.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2015/07/20/the-harper-lee-i-knew-2|title=The Harper Lee I Knew|first=Marja|last=Mills|publisher=The Washington Post|date=2015-07-20|accessdate=2015-12-15}}</ref><ref name="blogs.wsj.com">{{cite web|url=http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/07/17/gregory-peck-atticus-finch-go-set-a-watchman/|title=What Would Gregory Peck Think Of 'Go Set A Watchman'? His Son Weights In|first=Jennifer|last=Maloney|publisher=The Wall Street Journal|date=2015-07-17|accessdate=2015-12-15}}</ref> Marja Mills, author of ''The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee'', a friend and former neighbor, paints a very different picture.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themockingbirdnextdoor.com|title=The Mockingbird Next Door|first=Marja|last=Mills|accessdate=2015-12-15}}</ref> In her piece for ''[[The Washington Post]]'', "The Harper Lee I knew,"<ref name="washingtonpost.com"/> she quotes Alice{{mdash}}Lee's sister, whom she describes as "gatekeeper, advisor, protector" for most of Lee's adult life{{mdash}}as saying, "Poor Nelle Harper can't see and can't hear and will sign anything put before her by anyone in whom she has confidence." She makes note that Watchman was announced just two and a half months after Alice's death and that all correspondence to and from Lee goes through her new attorney. She describes Lee as "in a wheelchair in an assisted living center, nearly deaf and blind, with a uniformed guard posted at the door" and her visitors "restricted to those on an approved list."<ref name="washingtonpost.com"/> ''New York Times'' columnist Joe Nocera continues this argument.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> He also takes issue with how the book has been promoted by the 'Murdoch Empire' as a "newly discovered" novel, attesting that the other people in the Sothebys meeting insist that Lee's attorney was present in 2011, when Lee's former agent (who was subsequently fired) and the Sotheby's specialist found the manuscript. They say she knew full well that it was the same one submitted to Tay Hohoff in the '50s that was reworked into "Mockingbird", and that Carter has been sitting on the discovery, waiting for the moment when she, and not Alice, would be in charge of Harper Lee's affairs.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Stephen Peck, son of actor [[Gregory Peck]], has also expressed concern. Responding to the question of how he thinks his father would have reacted to the book, he said that his father "would have appreciated the discussion the book has prompted, but would have been troubled by the decision to publish it."<ref name="blogs.wsj.com"/> Peck notes that his father considered Lee a dear friend. She gave him the pocket watch that had belonged to her father, on whom she modeled Atticus and that Gregory wore it the night he won an Oscar for the role.<ref name="blogs.wsj.com"/> Stephen, who is president and chief executive of the United States Veterans Initiative, goes on to say "I think he would have felt very protective of her," and that his father would have counseled Lee not to publish ''Watchman'' because it could taint ''Mockingbird'', one of the most beloved novels (in) American history.{{cn|date=February 2016}} "Not to protect himself, but to protect her," Peck said, also noting that the decision to publish it was made not long after the death of Alice Lee, who had long handled Harper Lee’s affairs. “You just don’t know how that decision was made… If he had to, he would have flown down to talk to her. I have no doubt.” Later in the article, which was posted in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' he says, “To me, it was an unedited draft. Do you want to put that early version out there or do you want to put it in the University of Alabama archives for scholars to look at?”<ref name="blogs.wsj.com"/> ==Death== Lee died in her sleep on the morning of February 19, 2016, aged 89.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/19/entertainment/harper-lee-obit-feat/index.html |title=Harper Lee, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' author, dead at 89|work=CNN|date=February 19, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/02/harper_lee_dead_at_age_of_89_t.html | title=Harper Lee dead at age of 89: 'To Kill a Mockingbird Author' passes away | work=AL.com | accessdate=February 19, 2016 | date=February 19, 2016}}</ref> Until her death, she lived in [[Monroeville, Alabama]].<ref name="death - BBC">{{cite web|title=US author Harper Lee dies aged 89|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35616011?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_breaking&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central|website=BBC News|accessdate=19 February 2016|date=19 February 2016}}</ref> ==Fictional portrayals== Harper Lee was portrayed by [[Catherine Keener]] in the film ''[[Capote (film)|Capote]]'' (2005), by [[Sandra Bullock]] in the film ''[[Infamous (film)|Infamous]]'' (2006), and by [[Tracey Hoyt]] in the TV movie ''Scandalous Me: The [[Jacqueline Susann]] Story'' (1998).<ref>{{cite news|work=The New York Times|url=http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/173673/Scandalous-Me-The-Jacqueline-Susann-Story/overview|title=Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story |date=1998}}</ref> In the [[Other_Voices,_Other_Rooms_(novel)#Adaptations|adaptation]] of [[Truman Capote]]'s novel ''[[Other Voices, Other Rooms (novel)|Other Voices, Other Rooms]]'' (1995), the character of Idabel Thompkins, who was inspired by Capote's memories of Lee as a child, was played by [[Aubrey Dollar]]. =={{anchor|Writings}} Works== ===Books=== *''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'' (1960) *''[[Go Set a Watchman]]'' (2015) ===Articles=== *{{cite news|title=Love—In Other Words|date=April 15, 1961|work=[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]|pages=64–65}} *{{cite news|title=Christmas to Me|date=December 1961|work=[[McCall's]]}} *{{cite news|title=When Children Discover America|date=August 1965|work=McCall's}} *{{cite news|title=Romance and High Adventure|date=1983|}} A paper presented in Eufaula, Alabama, and collected in the anthology ''Clearings in the Thicket'' (1985). *{{cite news|title=[[Open letter]] to [[Oprah Winfrey]] |date=July 2006|work=[[O: The Oprah Magazine]]}} ==References== {{Reflist|30em}} ==External links== {{Commons category|Harper Lee}} {{Wikiquote}} *{{IBList|type=author|id=290|name=Harper Lee}} *{{IMDb name|497369}} *{{Guardiantopic|books/harper-lee}} *{{worldcat id|lccn-n50-38872}} {{PulitzerPrize Fiction 1951–1975}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Harper}} [[Category:1926 births]] [[Category:2016 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American novelists]] [[Category:20th-century American writers]] [[Category:20th-century women writers]] [[Category:Alabama Academy of Honor members]] [[Category:American women novelists]] [[Category:American Methodists]] [[Category:Huntingdon College alumni]] [[Category:People from Monroeville, Alabama]] [[Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients]] [[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners]] [[Category:To Kill a Mockingbird]] [[Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients]] [[Category:University of Alabama School of Law alumni]] [[Category:Writers from Alabama]] [[Category:Writers of American Southern literature]] [[Category:Place of death missing]]'