Nelle Harper Lee (born April 28, 1926) is an American novelist known for her Pulitzer Prize – winning 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird, her only major work to date. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom of United States for her contributions to literature in 2007. ^[1] Image File history File links Pakulalee. ... Alan Jay Pakula (April 7, 1928 - November 19, 1998) was an American film producer, writer and director noted for his contributions to the conspiracy thriller genre. ... is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Monroeville is a city in Monroe County, Alabama, United States. ... This article is about work. ... In English usage, nationality is the legal relationship between a person and a country. ... ... Southern Gothic is a subgenre of the Gothic writing style, unique to American literature. ... Truman Capote (pronounced ) (30 September 1924 – 25 August 1984) was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffanys (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a non-fiction novel. ... William Cuthbert Faulkner (September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American novelist and poet whose works feature his native state of Mississippi. ... Gutersons novel Snow Falling on Cedars David Guterson (born May 4, 1956) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, journalist, and essayist. ... is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This is a list of novelists from the United States. ... The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded since 1948 for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. ... To Kill a Mockingbird is a Southern Gothic bildungsroman novel by Harper Lee. ... The Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States and is bestowed by the President of the United States (the other award which is considered its equivalent is the Congressional Gold Medal, which is bestowed by an...

Biography

Early life

Harper Lee, known to friends and family as Nelle, was born in the small southwestern Alabama town of Monroeville on April 28, 1926, the youngest of four children born to Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee. Her father, a former newspaper editor and proprietor, was a lawyer who also served on the state legislature from 1926 to 1938. As a child, Lee was a tomboy and a precocious reader, and enjoyed the friendship of her schoolmate and neighbor, the young Truman Capote. Monroeville is a city in Monroe County, Alabama, United States. ... is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the fish called lawyer, see Burbot. ... For other uses, see Tomboy (disambiguation). ... Truman Capote (pronounced ) (30 September 1924 – 25 August 1984) was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffanys (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a non-fiction novel. ...

Lee was only five years old when, in April 1931 in the small Alabama town of Scottsboro, the first trials began surrounding the purported rapes of two white women by nine young black men. The defendants, who were nearly lynched before being brought to court, were not provided with the services of a lawyer until the first day of trial. Despite medical testimony that the women had not been raped, the all-white jury found the men guilty of the crime and sentenced all but the youngest, a thirteen-year-old, to death. Six years of subsequent trials saw most of these convictions repealed, and all but one of the men freed or paroled. The Scottsboro case left a deep impression on the young Lee, who would use it later as the rough basis for the events in To Kill a Mockingbird. Scottsboro is a city in Jackson County, Alabama, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. ... The case of the Scottsboro Boys arose in Scottsboro, Alabama during the 1930s, when nine black youths, ranging in age from thirteen to nineteen, were accused of raping two white women, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates, one of whom would later recant. ... Manifestations Slavery Racial profiling Lynching Hate speech Hate crime Genocide (examples) Ethnocide Ethnic cleansing Pogrom Race war Religious persecution Gay bashing Blood libel Paternalism Police brutality Movements Policies Discriminatory Race / Religion / Sex segregation Apartheid Redlining Internment Anti-discriminatory Emancipation Civil rights Desegregation Integration Equal opportunity Counter-discriminatory Affirmative action Racial...

After graduating from high school in Monroeville ^[2], Lee enrolled first at the all-female Huntingdon College in Montgomery (1944-45), and then pursued a law degree at the University of Alabama (1945-49), pledging the Chi Omega sorority. While there, she wrote for several student publications and spent a year as editor of the campus humor magazine, Ramma-Jamma. Though she did not complete the requirements for a law degree, she pursued studies for a summer in Oxford, England, before moving to New York in 1950, where she worked as a reservation clerk with Eastern Air Lines and BOAC in New York City. Huntingdon College, founded in 1854, is a coeducational liberal arts college in Montgomery, Alabama. ... Coordinates: , Country State County Montgomery Incorporated December 3, 1819 Government  - Mayor Bobby Bright Area  - City  156. ... The University of Alabama (also known as Alabama, UA or colloquially as Bama) is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. Founded in 1831, UA is the flagship school of the University of Alabama System. ... Chi Omega (ΧΩ) is the largest womens fraternal organization in the National Panhellenic Conference. ... This article is about the city of Oxford in England. ... “UK” redirects here. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ... This article is about the defunct U.S. air carrier Eastern Air Lines. ... After technical problems with the Comet, BOAC resumed jet service with imported Boeing 707s. ...

Lee continued working as a reservation clerk until the late 50s, when she resolved to devote herself to writing. She lived a frugal lifestyle, traveling between her cold-water-only apartment in New York to her family home in Alabama to care for her ailing father. A cold water flat is an apartment which has no running hot water. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ...

To Kill a Mockingbird

Having written several long stories, Harper Lee located an agent in November 1956. The following month at the East 50th townhouse of her friends Michael Brown and Joy Williams Brown, she received a gift of a year's wages with a note: "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas."^[3] Within a year, she had a first draft. Working closely with J.B. Lippincott editor Tay Hohoff, she completed To Kill a Mockingbird in the summer of 1959. Published July 11, 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird was an immediate bestseller and won her great critical acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. It remains a bestseller today, with over 30 million copies in print, and has earned a secure place in the canon of American literature. In 1999, it was voted "Best Novel of the Century" in a poll conducted by the Library Journal. Michael Brown (born circa 1920 in Mexia, Texas) is a producer and writer of songs and books whose most-widely-known work might be several childrens books about Santa Mouse. ... Lippincott Williams and Wilkins is a publisher primarily associated with scientific books and journals. ... To Kill a Mockingbird is a Southern Gothic bildungsroman novel by Harper Lee. ... is the 192nd day of the year (193rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... See also: 1959 in literature, other events of 1960, 1961 in literature, list of years in literature. ... A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and booktrade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. ... The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded since 1948 for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. ... See also: 1960 in literature, other events of 1961, 1962 in literature, list of years in literature. ... Canon, in the context of a fictional universe, comprises those novels, stories, films, etc. ... American literature refers to written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and Colonial America. ... Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. ...

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^[4]

President Johnson named Lee to the National Council of Arts in June 1966, and since then she has received numerous honorary doctorates. She continues to live in New York and Monroeville, but prefers a relatively private existence, granting few interviews and giving few speeches. She has published only a few short essays in popular magazines since her literary debut. Her universal success is acknowledged both by readers and critics alike.

To Kill a Mockingbird details

Many details of To Kill a Mockingbird are apparently autobiographical. Like Lee, the tomboy Scout is the daughter of a respected small town Alabama attorney. The plot involves a legal case, the workings of which would have been familiar to Lee, who studied law. Scout's friend Dill is commonly supposed to have been inspired by Lee's childhood friend and neighbor, Truman Capote, while Lee is the model for a character in Capote's first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms. Truman Capote (pronounced ) (30 September 1924 – 25 August 1984) was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffanys (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a non-fiction novel. ... Other Voices, Other Rooms is a 1948 novel by Truman Capote. ...

Lee has downplayed autobiographical parallels of the book. Yet Truman Capote, mentioning the character Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird, described the details he considered biographical: "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 dream, done in an entirely different way." (William Nance, The Worlds of Truman Capote. New York: Stein & Day, 1970, p. 223.) Truman Capote (pronounced ) (30 September 1924 – 25 August 1984) was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffanys (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a non-fiction novel. ...

After To Kill a Mockingbird

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 (1966). The experiences of Capote and Lee in Holcomb were depicted in two different films, Capote (2005) and Infamous (2006). Holcomb is a city located in Finney County, Kansas. ... In Cold Blood is a 1965 book by American author Truman Capote. ... Capote is an Academy Award-winning 2005 biographical film about Truman Capote (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal) on a writing assignment for The New Yorker. ... Infamous (Previously: Have You Heard?; and Every Word Is True USA working title) is a forthcoming film from Warner Independent Pictures, due to be released in September 2006. ...

Since the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee has granted almost no requests for interviews or public appearances, and with the exception of a few short essays, has published no further writings. She did work on a second novel for years, eventually filing it away unpublished.^{[citation needed]} During the mid-1980s, she began writing a book of nonfiction about an Alabama serial murderer, but she put it aside when she was not satisfied with the result.^{[citation needed]}

Lee said of the 1962 Academy Award – winning screenplay adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird by Horton Foote: "If the integrity of a film adaptation can be measured by the degree to which the novelist's intent is preserved, Mr. Foote's screenplay should be studied as a classic."^{[citation needed]} She also became a close friend of the late star Gregory Peck, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch, the father of the novel's narrator, Scout. She remains close to the actor's family. Peck's grandson, Harper Peck Voll, is named after her. Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... Sample from a screenplay, showing dialogue and action descriptions. ... Horton Foote (born March 14, 1916 in Wharton, Texas), is a two-time Academy Award and one-time Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated American author and playwright. ... Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. ... Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an Academy Award-winning American film actor. ... Atticus Finch is a character in Harper Lees Pulitzer Prize-winning fictional novel To Kill a Mockingbird. ...

In June 1966, Lee was one of two persons named by President Lyndon B. Johnson to the National Council on the Arts. LBJ redirects here. ...

When Lee attended the 1983 Alabama History and Heritage Festival in Eufaula, Alabama, she presented the essay "Romance and High Adventure." Eufaula is a city in Barbour County, Alabama, United States. ...

Lee has been known to split time between an apartment in New York and her sister's home in Monroeville. She has accepted honorary degrees but has declined to make speeches. In March 2005, she arrived via Amtrak 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. At the urging of Peck's widow Veronique, Lee traveled by train from Monroeville to Los Angeles in 2005 to accept the Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award. She has also attended luncheons for students who have written essays based on her work held annually at the University of Alabama.^[5][6] On May 21, 2006, she accepted an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame. To honor her, the graduating seniors were given copies of Mockingbird before the ceremony and held them up when she received her degree. An honorary degree (Latin: honoris causa ad gradum, not to be confused with an honors degree) is an academic degree awarded to an individual as a decoration, rather than as the result of matriculating and studying for several years. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) system serves the residents of Los Angeles, California. ... The University of Notre Dame IPA: is a Catholic[4] institution located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated section of St. ...

Her withdrawal from public life has prompted persistent but unfounded speculation that new publications are in the works. Similar speculation has followed the American writers J. D. Salinger and Ralph Ellison. Jerome David Salinger (born January 1, 1919) (pronounced ) is an American author best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye and his reclusive nature. ... Ralph Ellison (March 1, 1913[1] – April 16, 1994) was a scholar and writer. ...

In a letter published in Oprah Winfrey's magazine O (May 2006), Lee wrote about her early love of books as a child and her steadfast dedication to the written word: "Now, 75 years later in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books."^[7] Oprah Winfrey, (born January 29, 1954) is a multiple-Emmy Award winning host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the highest rated talk show in television history. ...

While attending an August 20, 2007 ceremony inducting four new 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".^[8] is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ...

Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

Harper Lee being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush at the White House on November 5, 2007.

On November 5, 2007, Lee was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush at a White House Ceremony. The Presidential Medal of Freedom 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." ^[9][10] Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... is the 309th day of the year (310th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... The Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States and is bestowed by the President of the United States (the other award which is considered its equivalent is the Congressional Gold Medal, which is bestowed by an... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and the 43rd and current President of the United States. ... For other uses, see White House (disambiguation). ... The Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States and is bestowed by the President of the United States (the other award which is considered its equivalent is the Congressional Gold Medal, which is bestowed by an...

Fictional portrayals

Harper Lee was portrayed by Catherine Keener in the film Capote (2005), by Sandra Bullock in the film Infamous (2006), and by Tracey Hoyt in the TV movie Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story (1998). In the adaptation of Capote's Other Voices, Other Rooms (1995), the character of Idabell Thompkins (Aubrey Dollar) is inspired by Truman Capote's memories of Harper Lee as a child. Catherine Ann Keener (born March 26, 1960 in Miami, Florida) is an Academy Award-nominated American actress. ... Capote is an Academy Award-winning 2005 biographical film about Truman Capote (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal) on a writing assignment for The New Yorker. ... Sandra Annette Bullock (born July 26, 1964) is a German-American film actress. ... Infamous (Previously: Have You Heard?; and Every Word Is True USA working title) is a forthcoming film from Warner Independent Pictures, due to be released in September 2006. ... Jacqueline Susann (August 20, 1918 – September 21, 1974 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was a Jewish-American author known for her mass-appeal novels. ... Truman Capote (pronounced ) (30 September 1924 – 25 August 1984) was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffanys (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a non-fiction novel. ... Aubrey Dollar (born September 23, 1980) is an American television and film actress. ... Truman Capote (pronounced ) (30 September 1924 – 25 August 1984) was an American writer whose non-fiction, stories, novels and plays are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffanys (1958) and In Cold Blood (1965), which he labeled a non-fiction novel. ...

Writings

• Lee, Harper (1960) To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: J. B. Lippincott.
• Lee, Harper (1961) "Love--In Other Words". Vogue Magazine.
• Lee, Harper (1961) "Christmas to Me". McCalls Magazine.
• Lee, Harper (1965) "When Children Discover America". McCalls Magazine.

References

This page is about the official residence of the President of the USA. For other White Houses see White House (disambiguation). ... is the 309th day of the year (310th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 132nd day of the year (133rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 127th day of the year (128th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the news website, see msnbc. ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Boston Globe (and Boston Sunday Globe) is the most widely circulated daily newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts and New England. ... is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... The Birmingham News is a the daily newspaper for Birmingham, Alabama, and the largest newspaper in Alabama. ... is the 309th day of the year (310th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... BBC News website in June 2007. ... is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ...

External links

• Encyclopedia of Alabama: Harper Lee
• 1964 Interview with Roy Newquist
• Harper Lee at the Internet Movie Database
• NNDB Profile
• Harper Lee at the Internet Book List
• "Mockingbird author steps out of the shadows" [The Guardian], February 5, 2006]
• Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields, 2006
• "Harper Lee Emerges for 'Mockingbird' Award" All Things Considered, January 28, 2007[[Category:University of Alabama alumni]