BookVenture Blog

Harper Lee, One Of The Bestselling Author, Dies At 89

Harper Lee

 

Harper Lee, the little girl named Nelle who grew up to write one of the 20th century’s most culture-changing novels, has died in her beloved hometown of Monroeville, Ala. She was 89.

 

Her death Friday was confirmed by a spokeswoman for the mayor’s office in Monroeville who would not provide a name and was first reported by an Alabama local news website.

 

Her current publisher, HarperCollins, issued a statement Friday from Michael Morrison, president and publisher in the USA and Canada: “We are deeply saddened by the passing of our beloved author, Harper Lee. She died peacefully in the early hours of this morning at the age of 89.” (HarperCollins initially said her death was Thursday night but issued a corrected statement later.)

Lee remained, to the end, immune to the blandishments of worldwide fame, which enveloped her in 1960 with the publication of her first novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. It won the Pulitzer Prize, has sold more than 30 million copies in English, remains in print (selling more than a million copies a year) and in every school in America, and, until last year, was her only book.

 

 

 

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