Harper Lee: US author of To Kill a Mockingbird dies aged 89

Harper Lee, the reclusive
author of To Kill a
Mockingbird, has died at the
age of 89.

The news was first confirmed
by the mayor's office in her
hometown of Monroeville,
Alabama.
The novelist was born Nelle
Harper Lee on 28 April 1926.
In 1960, she published To Kill
a Mockingbird, a huge critical
and commercial success
which won the Pulitzer Prize
for fiction. A sequel Go Set a
Watchman, was published in
2015.
To Kill a Mockingbird sold
more than 40 million copies
worldwide.

Lee was born 1926 in
Monroeville, Alabama. She
was the youngest of four
children of lawyer Amasa
Coleman Lee and Frances
Cunningham Finch Lee.
She was a guardedly private
person, respected and
protected by residents of her
town, rarely giving interviews.
Lee's literary agent Andrew
Nurnberg said: "Knowing
Nelle these past few years
has been not just an utter
delight but an extraordinary
privilege.
"When I saw her just six
weeks ago, she was full of
life, her mind and
mischievous wit as sharp as
ever. She was quoting
Thomas More and setting me
straight on Tudor history. We
have lost a great writer, a
great friend and a beacon of
integrity."
Spencer Madrie, owner of Ol'
Curiosities and Book Shoppe,
a small, independent book
store in Lee's hometown that
focuses largely on Lee's
works, said: "The world has
lost a brilliant mind and a
great writer."
"We will remember Harper
Lee for her candour, her
talent, and the truths she
gave the world, perhaps
before the world was ready.
We are grateful to have had a
connection to an author who
offered so much.
"There will always be
something missing from
Monroeville and the world at
large in the absence of
Harper Lee."
Michael Morrison, the head of
HarperCollins US said in a
statement: "The world knows
Harper Lee was a brilliant
writer, but what many don't
know is that she was an
extraordinary woman of great
joyfulness, humility and
kindness.
"She lived her life the way
she wanted to - in private -
surrounded by books and the
people who loved her. I will
always cherish the time I
spent with her."
Tom Weldon, CEO of Penguin
Random House - which
published Lee's novels in the
UK - said: "We are honoured
to have been Harper Lee's
publisher and so saddened to
hear of her passing. She was
an extraordinary writer and
readers around the world will
always be thankful for her
legacy."
The author Malorie Blackman
posted "Harper Lee R.I.P." on
her Twitter account.
Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted:
"Rest in peace, Harper Lee.
The one thing that doesn't
abide by majority rule is a
person's conscience."

The manuscript for the sequel
to To Kill a Mockingbird, Go
Set A Watchman was
discovered and published in
2015.
Many bookshops remained
open all night to cope with
demand on the day of the
novel's release last July.
The book is set 20 years after
the events of To Kill a
Mockingbird - although Lee
actually wrote Go Set a
Watchman first.
Watchman contains some of
the same characters as
Mockingbird, including Scout
and her father Atticus Finch.
The publication proved
controversial as early
reviewers noted that Atticus
expresses racist views in the
story.

To Kill a Mockingbird - at a
glance
In the small fictional town of
Maycomb in the depression-
ravaged American South, a
black man named Tom
Robinson is falsely accused
of raping a white woman.
A lawyer named Atticus Finch
defends Robinson in court.
The frenzy stirred up by the
case and her father's quest
for justice are seen through
the eyes of Finch's six-year-
old daughter Scout.
The book explores issues of
race, class and the loss of
innocence.
"You never really understand
a person until you consider
things from his point of
view… until you climb into his
skin and walk around in it." -
Atticus Finch to Scout.
"It was times like these when
I thought my father, who
hated guns and had never
been to any wars, was the
bravest man who ever lived."
- Scout Finch.
In 1962, it was made into a
film starring Gregory Peck as
Atticus Finch and Mary
Badham as Scout.
It was adapted for the big
screen by Horton Foote and
earned Peck an Oscar for
Best Actor.
The novel is currently being
adapted for the stage.