View source for Harper Lee

{{short description|American novelist (1926–2016)}}
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{{Infobox writer
| image            = Photo portrait of Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird dust jacket, 1960).jpg
| caption          = Portrait by [[Truman Capote]], 1960
| 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           = 1960–2016
| genre            = {{hlist|Literature|fiction}}
| movement         = [[Southern Gothic]]
| signature        = Harper Lee signature.svg
| notableworks     = {{ubl|''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'' (1960)|''[[Go Set a Watchman]]'' (2015)}}
| education        = [[Huntingdon College]]<br>[[University of Alabama]]
}}
'''Nelle Harper Lee''' (April 28, 1926 – February 19, 2016) was an American [[novelist]] whose 1960 novel ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'' won the 1961 [[Pulitzer Prize]] and became a classic of modern [[American literature]]. She assisted her close friend [[Truman Capote]] in his research for the book ''[[In Cold Blood]]'' (1966).<ref>{{cite news |author=Harris, Paul |date=May 4, 2013 |title=Harper Lee sues agent over copyright to To Kill A Mockingbird |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/04/harper-lee-sues-agent-copyright}}</ref> An [[Draft document|earlier draft]] of ''Mockingbird'', set at a later date, ''[[Go Set a Watchman]]'', was published in July 2015 as a sequel.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite news |last=Nocera |first=Joe |date=July 24, 2015 |title=The Harper Lee 'Go Set A Watchman' Fraud |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/opinion/joe-nocera-the-watchman-fraud.html |access-date=December 15, 2015}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite news |last=Oldenburg |first=Ann |date=February 3, 2015 |title=New Harper Lee novel on the way! |newspaper=USA Today |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2015/02/03/harper-lee-second-novel-mockingbird-watchman/22792273 |access-date=February 3, 2015}}</ref><ref name="New York Times February 2015">{{cite news |last=Alter |first=Alexandra |date=February 3, 2015 |title=Harper Lee, Author of 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' Is to Publish a Second Novel |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/books/harper-lee-author-of-to-kill-a-mockingbird-is-to-publish-a-new-novel.html |access-date=February 3, 2015}}</ref> A collection of her short stories and essays, ''[[The Land of Sweet Forever]]'', was published on October 21, 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |title=New Harper Lee Collection On the Way from 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Author — See the Cover! (Exclusive) |url=https://people.com/the-land-of-sweet-forever-see-the-cover-of-new-harper-lee-collection-11739567 |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=People.com |language=en}}</ref>

The plot and characters of ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' are loosely based on Lee's observations of her family and neighbors in [[Monroeville, Alabama]], as well as a childhood event that occurred near her hometown in 1936. The novel deals with racist attitudes and the irrationality of adult attitudes towards race and class in the [[Deep South]] of the 1930s as depicted through the eyes of two children.

Lee received numerous accolades and honorary degrees, including the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] in 2007, which was awarded for her contribution to literature.<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://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><ref>{{Cite web|title=Harper Lee, Author Of 'To Kill A Mockingbird,' Dies At Age 89|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/02/19/467348051/harper-lee-to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-reportedly-dies-at-age-89|access-date=June 18, 2021|website=NPR.org|date=February 19, 2016 |language=en|last1=Chappell |first1=Bill }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Notre Dame issues statement about passing of Harper Lee, shares video|url=https://www.abc57.com/news/notre-dame-issues-statement-about-passing-of-harper-lee-shares-video|access-date=June 18, 2021|website=ABC57|language=en}}</ref>

==Early life==
Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in [[Monroeville, Alabama]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/20/arts/harper-lee-dies.html |title=Harper Lee, Author of 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' Dies at 89 |work=The New York Times |date=February 19, 2016 |access-date=February 19, 2016 |last=Grimes |first=William}}</ref> the youngest of four children of Frances Cunningham (née Finch) and [[Amasa Coleman Lee]].<ref name="EoABio">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Anderson |first=Nancy G. |title=Nelle Harper Lee |url=http://eoa.auburn.edu/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1126 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121211051020/http://eoa.auburn.edu/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1126 |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 11, 2012 |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Alabama |publisher=Auburn University at Montgomery |access-date=November 3, 2010 |date=March 19, 2007 }}</ref> Her parents chose her middle name, Harper, to honor pediatrician Dr. William W. Harper, of [[Selma, Alabama|Selma]], who had saved the life of her sister Louise.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mills|first1=Marja|title=The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee|date=2014|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0698163836|page=181}}</ref> Her first name, Nelle, was her grandmother's name spelled backwards and the name she used, whereas Harper Lee was primarily her [[pen name]].<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 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York |access-date=March 12, 2015}}</ref> Lee's mother was a homemaker; her father was a former newspaper editor, businessman, and lawyer, who also served in the [[Alabama State Legislature]] from 1926 to 1938. Through her father, she was related to [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] [[General officer|General]] [[Robert E. Lee]] and a member of the prominent [[Lee family]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://time.com/4234210/harper-lee-childhood/|title = Harper Lee Before 'To Kill a Mockingbird'| date=February 23, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2015/02/03/who-is-harper-lee/22795545/|title = Who is Harper Lee?| website=[[USA Today]] }}</ref> 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's three siblings were [[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> Although Nelle remained in contact with her significantly older sisters throughout their lives, only her brother was close enough in age to play with, though she bonded with [[Truman Capote]] (1924–1984), who visited family in Monroeville during the summers from 1928 until 1934.<ref name="Nancy Grisham Anderson p. 334">Nancy Grisham Anderson, "Harper Lee: 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and 'A Good Woman's Words,'" pp. 334 et seq. in Susan Ashmore, Dorr Youngblood and Lisa Lindquist, ''Alabama Women: Their Lives and '' University of Alabama Press 2017</ref>

While enrolled at [[Monroe County High School (Alabama)|Monroe County High School]], Lee developed an interest in English literature, in part through her teacher Gladys Watson, who became her mentor. After graduating high school in 1944,<ref name="EoABio" /> like her eldest sister Alice Finch Lee, Nelle 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. Nelle also wrote for the university newspaper (''The Crimson White'') and a humor magazine (''Rammer Jammer''), but to her father's great disappointment, she left one semester short of completing the credit hours for a degree.<ref name="Corolla">{{Cite book |url=http://purl.lib.ua.edu/166975 |title=The Corolla |publisher=The University of Alabama |year=1947 |volume=55 |location=Tuscaloosa |page=54}}</ref><ref>Anderson pp. 335–336</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cep |first1=Casey |title=Furious hours: murder, fraud, and the last trial of Harper Lee |date=2019 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |isbn=978-1101947869 |page=189}}</ref> In the summer of 1948, Lee attended a summer school program, "European Civilisation in the Twentieth Century", at [[Oxford University]] in England, financed by her father, who hoped—in vain, as it turned out—that the experience would make her more interested in her legal studies in Tuscaloosa.<ref>[https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/about/harper-lees-oxford-summer "Harper Lee's Oxford Summer," Department of Continuing Education, Oxford University]: unsigned article is also undated, but written after the publication of ''Go Set a Watchman''; accessed December 12, 2016.</ref>

==''To Kill a Mockingbird''==
{{blockquote|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 jobs—first at a bookstore, then as an airline reservation agent—while writing in her spare time.<ref>Anderson p. 336</ref> After publishing several long stories, Lee found an agent in November 1956; Maurice Crain would become a friend until his death decades later. The following month, at [[Michael Brown (writer)|Michael Brown]]'s East 50th Street townhouse, friends gave Lee 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."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/12/harper-lee-my-christmas-in-new-york|title=Harper Lee: my Christmas in New York|first=Harper|last=Lee|newspaper=The Guardian |date=December 12, 2015|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref>

===Origin===
[[File:To Kill a Mockingbird (first edition cover).jpg|thumb|The first edition cover for ''To Kill a Mockingbird'']]
In the spring of 1957, a 31-year-old Lee delivered the manuscript for ''Go Set a Watchman'' to Crain to send out to publishers, including the now-defunct [[J. B. Lippincott Company]], which eventually bought it.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://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|work=The New York Times|date=July 12, 2015|access-date=December 15, 2015}}</ref> At Lippincott, the novel fell into the hands of [[Tay Hohoff]]. 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 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, Lee was unsure of her talents. "I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told," Lee said in a statement in 2015 about the evolution from ''Watchman'' to ''Mockingbird''.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Hohoff later described the process in Lippincott's 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]] which published ''Watchman'' in 2015.)<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Hohoff described the give and take between author and editor: "When she disagreed with a suggestion, we talked it out, sometimes for hours" ... "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"/>{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?326872-1/after-words-charles-shields ''After Words'' interview with Shields on ''Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee'', July 11, 2015], [[C-SPAN]]}} One winter night, as [[Charles J. Shields]] recounts in ''Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee'', Lee threw her manuscript out her window and into the snow, before calling Hohoff in tears. Shields recollected that "Tay told her to march outside immediately and pick up the pages".<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=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/books/08masl.html |access-date=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 40 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=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americannovel/timeline/tokillamockingbird.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071221001808/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americannovel/timeline/tokillamockingbird.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 21, 2007 |publisher=PBS |access-date=November 30, 2014}}</ref>

===Autobiographical details in the novel===
Like Lee, the tomboy Scout in the novel is the daughter of a respected small-town Alabama attorney. Scout's friend, Dill Harris, 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. |isbn=978-0805083194 |url=https://archive.org/details/mockingbird00char |url-access=registration |access-date=February 19, 2016}}</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 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===
For 40 years, Lee lived part-time at 433 East 82nd Street in [[Manhattan]], near her childhood friend Capote.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=April 14, 2017 |title=Find out if New York's greatest writers lived next door |url=https://nypost.com/2017/04/14/find-out-if-new-yorks-greatest-writers-lived-next-door/ |access-date=June 13, 2023 |language=en-US}}</ref> His first novel, the semi-autobiographical ''[[Other Voices, Other Rooms (novel)|Other Voices, Other Rooms]]'', had been published in 1948; a decade later Capote published ''[[Breakfast at Tiffany's (novel)|Breakfast at Tiffany's]]'', which became a film, a musical, and two stage plays. As the ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' manuscript went into publication production in 1959, Lee accompanied Capote to [[Holcomb, Kansas]], to help him research what they thought would be an article on a small town's response to the murder of a farmer and his family. Capote would expand the material into his best-selling book, ''[[In Cold Blood]]'', serialized beginning in September 1965 and published in 1966.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McAvoy |first1=Gary |title=The Origins of In Cold Blood, a Classic Tale of an Iconic American Crime |url=https://medium.com/@garymcavoy/the-origins-of-in-cold-blood-a-classic-tale-of-an-iconic-american-crime-4599af2d206b |website=Medium |access-date=February 19, 2021 |language=en |date=September 24, 2019|quote=Serialized in four consecutive issues of The New Yorker magazine beginning September 25, 1965, “In Cold Blood” was a huge sensation, selling out all copies published. By January 1966, the critical reviews were so strong that the initial print run of some 240,000 hardcover copies flew off the shelves.}}</ref> Her friendship with Capote, however, would suffer and peter out eventually in the wake of the worldwide success of Lee's novel, which Capote had troubles coming to terms with.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Zum 100. Geburtstag von Truman Capote [in German]. ORF-Radiothek. Public Austrian Radio |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLxj1IAguUY |access-date=December 22, 2025 |website=www.youtube.com}}</ref>

After ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' was released, Lee began a whirlwind of publicity tours, which she found difficult given her penchant for privacy and many interviewers' characterization of the work as a "coming-of-age story".<ref name="Cep p">Cep p.</ref>{{Page needed|date=June 2024}}<ref>Anderson pp. 337–338</ref> Racial tensions in the South had increased prior to the book's release. Students at North Carolina A&T University staged the first sit-in months before publication. As the book became a best seller, [[Freedom Riders]] arrived in Alabama and were beaten in Anniston and Birmingham. Meanwhile, ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 1961 Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews and became a Reader's Digest Book Club condensed selection and an alternate Book of the Month Club selection.<ref>Anderson p. 341</ref>

Lee helped with the adaptation of the book to the [[35th Academy Awards|1962 Academy Award]]–winning screenplay by [[Horton Foote]], and said: "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 |author-link=Ginia Bellafante |title=Harper Lee, Gregarious for a Day |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/books/30lee.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 30, 2006 |access-date=August 3, 2008}}</ref> [[Gregory Peck]] [[35th Academy Awards|won]] an [[Oscar award|Oscar]] for his portrayal of [[Atticus Finch]], the father of the novel's narrator, Scout. The families became close; Peck's grandson, Harper Peck Voll, is named after her.<ref>{{cite news |first=Irene |last=Lacher |author-link=Irene Lacher |title=Harper Lee raises her low profile for a friend |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-may-21-et-harper21-story.html |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=May 21, 2005 |access-date=March 3, 2017}}</ref>

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 worked on a follow-up novel—''The Long Goodbye''—but eventually filed it away unfinished.<ref name="WritersStory">{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/a-writers-story-the-mockingbird-mystery-480965.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220509/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/a-writers-story-the-mockingbird-mystery-480965.html |archive-date=May 9, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=A writer's story: The mockingbird mystery |access-date=August 3, 2008 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=June 4, 2006}}</ref>

Lee assumed significant care responsibilities for her aging father, who was thrilled with her success, and who even began signing autographs as "Atticus Finch".<ref name="Cep p"/>{{Page needed|date=June 2024}} His health worsened and he died in Alabama on April 15, 1962. Lee decided to spend more time in New York City as she mourned. Over the decades, her friend Capote had adopted a decadent lifestyle, which contrasted with Lee's preference for a quiet, more anonymous existence. Lee preferred to visit friends at their homes (though she came to distance herself from those who criticized her drinking),<ref name="Cep p"/>{{Page needed|date=June 2024}} and also made unannounced appearances at libraries or other gatherings, particularly in Monroeville.<ref>Anderson p. 242</ref>

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=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B01E0DC1F3BEF34BC4051DFB766838D679EDE |access-date=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>

Lee also realized that her book had become controversial, particularly with segregationists and other opponents of the civil rights movement. 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":<ref name=shields/>

{{blockquote|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]].}}

[[James J. Kilpatrick]], 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 magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,835072,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101028164133/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,835072,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 28, 2010 |title=Newspapers: Spoofing the Despots |magazine=Time |date=January 21, 1966 |access-date=April 29, 2011}}</ref>

Beginning in 1978, with her sisters' encouragement, Lee returned to Alabama and began a book about an Alabama serial murderer and the trial of his killer in [[Alexander City, Alabama|Alexander City]], under the working title ''The Reverend'', but also put it aside when she was not satisfied.<ref name="WritersStory"/><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>
When Lee attended the 1983 Alabama History and Heritage Festival in [[Eufaula, Alabama]], as her sister had arranged, 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 |access-date=June 15, 2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MxibzIEUlScC&pg=PA21}}</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 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150309112353/http://www.delconewsnetwork.com/articles/2015/02/11/entertainment/doc54d8f5efd8f07732716510.txt |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 9, 2015 |newspaper=Delaware County Daily Times |date=February 11, 2015 |access-date=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 |access-date=September 2, 2012}}</ref> She also attended luncheons for students who had 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/ |journal=Notre Dame Magazine |date=December 8, 2008 |access-date=November 30, 2014}}</ref>

On May 7, 2006, Lee wrote a letter to [[Oprah Winfrey]] (published in ''[[O, The Oprah Magazine]]'' in July 2006) 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, cell phones, iPods and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://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 declined an invitation to address the audience, saying: "Well, it's better to be silent than to be a fool."<ref>Paraphrase of a well-known American saying:  "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt."  The origin of the saying is uncertain; see [http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20131116192846/http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/17/remain%2Dsilent/ ''Quote Investigator'', 17 May 2010.]</ref><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=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7080382.stm |title=Author Lee receives top US honour |work=BBC News |date=November 6, 2007}}</ref>

In a 2009 correspondence with Ed Walsh of the ''[[Bay Area Reporter]]'', Lee addressed rumors that she was a [[lesbian]], stating that she was "not even remotely gay."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Walsh |first=Ed |date=24 February 2016 |title=Harper Lee answered 'gay' question |url=https://www.ebar.com/story/246033/redirect/News/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250529052006/https://www.ebar.com/story/246033/redirect/News/ |archive-date=May 29, 2025 |access-date=21 March 2025 |website=Bay Area Reporter |language=en |url-status=live }}</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 |access-date=February 4, 2015}}</ref>

In a 2011 interview with an Australian newspaper, Rev. Dr. Thomas Lane Butts said Lee was living in an [[assisted-living]] facility, was using a wheelchair, 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 |access-date=August 8, 2011 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|The Daily Telegraph]] |location=Sydney, NSW, Australia}}</ref>

On May 3, 2013, Lee 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 suffering a stroke.<ref name=bloomberg>{{cite web |url=https://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 |access-date=May 4, 2013}}</ref><ref name="reuters">{{cite news |url=http://in.reuters.com/article/entertainment-us-usa-mockingbird-lawsuit-idINBRE94210Z20130503/ |title='To Kill a Mockingbird' author Lee sues her agent over copyright |work=[[Reuters]] |date=May 4, 2013 |access-date=July 5, 2021 |archive-date=November 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123024154/https://in.reuters.com/article/entertainment-us-usa-mockingbird-lawsuit-idINBRE94210Z20130503 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In September 2013, attorneys for both sides announced a settlement of the lawsuit.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://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, Alabama|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=https://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 |work=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=https://www.reuters.com/article/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=https://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=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-i-found-the-harper-lee-manuscript-1436740810|title=How I Found the Harper Lee Manuscript|first=Tonja B. |last=Carter|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=July 12, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://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 |first=Alison |last=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 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203171358/http://corporate.harpercollins.com/us/press-releases/425/RECENTLY%20DISCOVERED%20NOVEL%20FROM%20HARPER%20LEE,%20AUTHOR%20OF%20TO%20KILL%20A%20MOCKINGBIRD |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 3, 2015 |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=https://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|access-date=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=https://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 news |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|work=Quartz|date=July 14, 2015|access-date=December 15, 2015}}</ref>

The book was met with controversy<ref name="ReferenceA"/> when it was published in July 2015 as a sequel to ''To Kill a Mockingbird.'' Although it had been confirmed as a first draft of the latter with many narrative incongruities, it was 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 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203171358/http://corporate.harpercollins.com/us/press-releases/425/RECENTLY%20DISCOVERED%20NOVEL%20FROM%20HARPER%20LEE,%20AUTHOR%20OF%20TO%20KILL%20A%20MOCKINGBIRD |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 3, 2015 |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|access-date=February 6, 2015|first=Greg |last=Garrison|date=February 5, 2015}}</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=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/harper-lee-published-july-28687808|title=Second Harper Lee Novel to Be Published in July |publisher=ABC News|access-date=February 3, 2015}}</ref>

Not all reviewers had a harsh opinion about the publication of the sequel book. Michiko Kakutani in her [[The New York Times|''Books of The Times'']] review found that the book "makes for disturbing reading" when Scout finds her father is racist. While not fully praising the book, Kakutani found the publication of ''Watchman'' an important stepping stone in understanding Lee's work.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/11/books/review-harper-lees-go-set-a-watchman-gives-atticus-finch-a-dark-side.html|title=Review: Harper Lee's 'Go Set a Watchman' Gives Atticus Finch a Dark Side|first=Michiko|last=Kakutani|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 10, 2015}}</ref>

The publication of the novel, announced by Lee's 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=April 4, 2015|access-date=December 15, 2015}}</ref> and, according to Lee's lawyer, Lee was "happy as hell" with the publication.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://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 |newspaper=The 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." |access-date=July 18, 2015}}</ref>
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?320684-1/marja-mills-the-mockingbird-door Discussion with Marja Mills on ''The Mockingbird Next Door'', July 23, 2014], [[C-SPAN]]}}
This characterization, however, was contested by many of Lee's friends.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="washingtonpost.com">{{cite news|url=https://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|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 20, 2015|access-date=December 15, 2015}}</ref><ref name="blogs.wsj.com">{{cite web|url=https://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|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=July 17, 2015|access-date=December 15, 2015}}</ref> Marja Mills, author of ''The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee'', a friend and former neighbor, painted a very different picture.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themockingbirdnextdoor.com|title=The Mockingbird Next Door |first=Marja|last=Mills|access-date=December 15, 2015}}</ref> In her piece for ''[[The Washington Post]]'', "The Harper Lee I Knew",<ref name="washingtonpost.com"/> she quoted Alice{{mdash}}Lee's sister, whom she described 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 made note that ''Watchman'' was announced just two and a half months after Alice's death<ref>{{Cite web|last=Monroeville|first=Associated Press in|date=November 18, 2014|title=Alice Lee, lawyer, church leader, and sister of Harper, dies aged 103|url=http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/18/alice-lee-alabama-mockingbird-harper|access-date=February 11, 2022|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref> and that all correspondence to and from Lee went through her new attorney. She described 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"/>

''The New York Times'' columnist [[Joe Nocera]] continued this argument.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> He also took issue with how the book had been promoted by the "Murdoch Empire" as a newly discovered novel and that the manuscript had been brought to light by Tonja B. Carter, who worked in Alice Lee's law office and became Lee's "new protector"—lawyer, trustee, and spokesperson<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Kovaleski|first1=Serge F.|last2=Alter|first2=Alexandra|date=August 23, 2015|title=Another Drama in Harper Lee's Hometown|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/24/books/in-harper-lees-hometown-an-issue-of-control.html|access-date=February 11, 2022|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>—after her sister Alice's death.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Alter|first1=Alexandra|last2=Kovaleski|first2=Serge F.|date=February 8, 2015|title=After Harper Lee Novel Surfaces, Plots Arise|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/books/harper-lee-lawyer-offers-more-details-on-discovery-of-go-set-a-watchman.html|access-date=February 11, 2022|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Nocera noted that other people in a 2011 [[Sotheby's]] meeting<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Kovaleski|first1=Serge F.|last2=Alter|first2=Alexandra|date=July 2, 2015|title=Harper Lee's 'Go Set a Watchman' May Have Been Found Earlier Than Thought|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/03/books/harper-lee-go-set-a-watchman-may-have-been-found-earlier-than-thought.html|access-date=February 11, 2022|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> insisted 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 said she knew full well that it was the same one submitted to Tay Hohoff in the 1950s that was reworked into ''Mockingbird'', and that Carter had 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"/>

The authorship of both ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' and ''Go Set a Watchman'' was investigated with the help of [[forensic linguistics]] and [[stylometry]]. In a study conducted by three Polish academics, Michał Choiński, Maciej Edera and Jan Rybicki, the authorial fingerprints of Lee, Hohoff and Capote were contrasted to prove that ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' and ''Go Set a Watchman'' were both written by the same person.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/747862|title=Harper Lee and Other People: A Stylometric Diagnosis|first1=Michał|last1=Choiński|first2=Maciej|last2=Eder|first3=Jan|last3=Rybicki|date=April 28, 2017|journal=Mississippi Quarterly|volume=70|issue=3|pages=355–374|via=Project MUSE|doi=10.1353/mss.2017.0022|s2cid=216821553 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> However, their study also suggests that Capote could have helped Lee with the writing of the opening chapters of ''To Kill a Mockingbird''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.lsupress.org/michal-choinski-talks-about-stylometry/|title=Michał Choiński Talks about Stylometry|date=June 10, 2020}}</ref>

===2025: ''The Land of Sweet Forever''===
''[[The Land of Sweet Forever]]'' was published on October 21, 2025. This [[posthumous publication|posthumous]] collection, with a million copy [[Edition (book)#First edition|first printing]], contains eight newly discovered early [[short stories]] and eight previously published [[essays]] and magazine pieces. It also contains an introduction by her biographer, [[Casey Cep]].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/04/unseen-harper-lee-stories-to-kill-a-mockingbird-the-land-of-sweet-forever Unseen Harper Lee stories set in New York and Alabama to be published]</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Alter |first=Alexandra |date=2025-03-04 |title=Stories by Harper Lee to Appear for the First Time in a New Collection |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/books/harper-lee-land-of-sweet-forever.html |access-date=2025-06-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

== 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 | access-date=February 19, 2016 | date=February 19, 2016}}</ref> Prior to her death, she lived in [[Monroeville, Alabama]].<ref name="death - BBC">{{cite web|title=US author Harper Lee dies aged 89|url=https://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|access-date=February 19, 2016|date=February 19, 2016}}</ref> On February 20, her funeral was held at First [[United Methodist Church]] in Monroeville.<ref>{{cite news|title=Harper Lee: loved ones hold private funeral without pomp or fanfare|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/21/harper-lee-private-funeral-alabama-monroeville|access-date=March 26, 2016|work=The Guardian|date=February 21, 2016}}</ref> The service was attended by close family and friends, and the [[eulogy]] was given by [[Wayne Flynt]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Harper Lee: Private funeral service held in author's Alabama hometown|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-21/private-funeral-service-held-for-harper-lee-in-alabama/7187412|website=ABC News|access-date=March 26, 2016|date=February 21, 2016}}</ref>

After her death, ''The New York Times'' filed a lawsuit that argued that since Lee's will was filed in a probate court in Alabama that it is part of the public record and that Lee's will should be made public. The will was unsealed in 2018, revealing that most of Lee's assets had been bequeathed to a trust she formed in 2011.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kovaleski|first1=Serge F.|last2=Alter|first2=Alexandra|title=Harper Lee's Will, Unsealed, Only Adds More Mystery to Her Life|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/books/harper-lee-will.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 27, 2018|access-date=May 31, 2019|url-status=live|url-access=registration|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180228031419/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/books/harper-lee-will.html|archive-date=28 February 2018}}</ref>

==Fictional portrayals==
Harper Lee was portrayed by [[Catherine Keener]], who received nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress]] for the film ''[[Capote (film)|Capote]]'' (2005), by [[Sandra Bullock]] in the film ''[[Infamous (2006 film)|Infamous]]'' (2006), and by [[Tracey Hoyt]] in the TV movie ''Scandalous Me: The [[Jacqueline Susann]] Story'' (1998).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/173673/Scandalous-Me-The-Jacqueline-Susann-Story/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303151627/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/173673/Scandalous-Me-The-Jacqueline-Susann-Story/overview|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 3, 2016|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=Hal Erickson|author-link=Hal Erickson (author)|date=2016|title=Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story }}</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]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wilmington |first1=Michael |title=Tribune Movie – Capote's True Voice is Absent in 'Other' |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-02-14-9802140237-story.html |access-date=February 19, 2021 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 14, 1998}}</ref>

=={{anchor|Writings}} Works==

===Books===
*{{cite book|title=[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]|date=1960|publisher=[[J. B. Lippincott & Co.]]}}
*{{cite book|title=[[Go Set a Watchman]]|date=2015|publisher=[[HarperCollins]]}}
*{{cite book|title=[[The Land of Sweet Forever]]|date=2025|publisher=HarperCollins}}

===Articles===
*{{cite magazine|title=Love—in Other Words|date=April 15, 1961|magazine=[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]}}
*{{cite magazine|title=Christmas to Me|date=December 1961|magazine=[[McCall's]]}}
*"Crackling Bread" in {{cite book|title=[[The Artists' & Writers' Cookbook]]|date=1961|publisher=Contact Editions}}
*{{cite magazine|title=When Children Discover America|date=August 1965|magazine=McCall's}}
*Essay on [[Truman Capote]], published in the [[Book of the Month Club]] newsletter. January 1966.
*"Romance and High Adventure", a lecture delivered at the 1983 Alabama History and Heritage Festival in [[Eufaula, Alabama]], and collected in {{cite book|title=Clearings in the Thicket: An Alabama Humanities Reader|date=1985|publisher=[[Mercer University Press]]}}
*Essay on [[Gregory Peck]], published in a special program from the [[American Film Institute]]. 1989.
*{{cite magazine|title=A Letter from Harper Lee|date=July 2006|magazine=[[O, The Oprah Magazine]]}}

==See also==
* {{anl|Alabama literature}}
* {{anl|Casey Cep}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Harper Lee}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IBList|type=author|id=290|name=Harper Lee}}
* {{IMDb name|497369}}
* {{Guardian topic}}
* {{Find a Grave|158340016|Harper Lee}}

{{To Kill a Mockingbird}}
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