To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee, an iconic American novelist, is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning work To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). Born in Monroeville, Alabama, on April 28, 1926, Lee's upbringing in the segregated South greatly influenced her writing. Her debut novel, widely considered one of the greatest works in American literature, explores themes of racial injustice, childhood innocence, and the moral complexities of human nature. Lee's personal life was largely private, and she was not known to engage much with the literary world after the success of To Kill a Mockingbird. She published only one other novel, Go Set a Watchman (2015), which was controversially released decades after her initial success. The book features the same characters as Mockingbird but provides a more complex and, at times, uncomfortable portrayal of Atticus Finch, the beloved figure in her earlier work. Despite her limited output, Harper Lee's impact on literature remains profound. Her work has been translated into over 40 languages, and To Kill a Mockingbird continues to be taught in schools across the world. Lee's legacy is that of a fierce advocate for social justice, and her works remain a vital part of the conversation on race, morality, and human rights in America.