Harper Lee, Author of ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird,’ Dies at 89

Celebrity

 | February 19, 2016 | By Lauren Boudreau

The famed author of one of the most influential books in American history has passed away, according to multiple reports.

Harper Lee, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, died on Friday. She was 89.

From The Guardian:

“Lee, or Nelle as she was known to those close to her, had lived for several years in a nursing home less than a mile from the house in which she had grown up in Monroeville, Alabama – the setting for the fictional Maycomb of her famous book. The town’s mayor, Mike Kennedy, confirmed the author’s death.”

It was growing up in Alabama where Lee witnessed the racial divides that would become the inspiration for her book.

Lee’s novel changed a generation and generations to come with her 1960 masterpiece about racism in America and remains a staple in public schools everywhere, inspiring readers to think outside their own perspective.

In 1961, the novel won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. By the 1970s, To Kill a Mockingbird had sold nearly 10 million copies.

Lee published Go Set a Watchman in 2015, a sort-of sequel to her acclaimed first book that became an instant bestseller.

“You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.” – Harper Lee

Sad to hear Harper Lee has passed on. pic.twitter.com/dn7ibKG2PU

— Stone™ (@GreatWallofChin) February 19, 2016