Harper Lee

Harper Lee

1. she helped Truman Capote compose an article for The New Yorker which would evolve into his book, In Cold Blood.

   • By the mid-1960s, Lee was reportedly working on another novel, but it was never published. Continuing to help Capote, Lee worked with him on and off on In Cold Blood.

2. befriended Broadway composer and lyricist Michael Martin Brown and his wife Jo

3. In 1959, she finished the manuscript for To Kill a Mockingbird.

   • In July 2015, she published her second novel, Go Set a Watchman, which was written before To Kill a Mockingbird and portrays the later lives of the characters.
   • Won a Pultizer Prize.

4. Active in her church and community, Harper Lee became famous for avoiding the spotlight.

   • She would often use the money she had accumulated from her work to make anonymous philanthropic donations to various charitable causes.

5. Born: April 28, 1926

   • Born in Monroeville, Alabama

6. Died: February 19, 2016

   • Also died in Monroeville

7. developed an interest in English literature in high school

   • accepted into the university's law school her junior year
     • went to Oxford University in England that summer as an exchange student

8. She had been invited by Smith and Hickock to witness their execution in 1965, but she declined.

   • Lee spent some of her time on a nonfiction book project about an Alabama serial killer which had the working title The Reverend but it was never published.

9. In November 2007, President George W. Bush presented Lee with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her "outstanding contribution to America's literary tradition" at a ceremony at the White House.

   • also suffered a stroke and struggled with various ongoing health issues, including hearing loss, limited vision and problems with her short-term memory