Lee, Harper

Lee, Harper

(born April 28, 1926, Monroeville, Ala., U.S.) U.S. novelist. The daughter of a lawyer, Lee attended the University of Alabama but left for New York City before obtaining a law degree. An editor helped her transform a series of short stories into the novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). Lee's only novel, it was nationally acclaimed, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1961, and was adapted into a memorable film in 1962. The novel's hero is the white lawyer Atticus Finch, whose just and compassionate acts include an unpopular defense of a black man falsely accused of raping a white girl. The book continued to resonate into the 21st century. In 2007 Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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Lee, (Nelle) Harper (1926–  ) writer; born in Monroeville, Ala. She attended Huntington College (1944–45), studied law at the University of Alabama (1945–49), and attended Oxford University for one year. She was an airline reservation clerk in New York City during the 1950s before returning to Monroeville. Her first and only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), received critical acclaim and was made into a highly successful movie in 1962.