Nelle Harper Lee
- Born:
- April 28, 1926, Monroeville, Alabama, USA
- Died:
- February 19, 2016, Monroeville, Alabama, USA
- Nationality:
- American
- Profession(s):
- Novelist
Early Life and Education
- Born Nelle Harper Lee, she was the youngest of four children.
- Her father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was a lawyer and state legislator.
- Her childhood friend was Truman Capote.
- Attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery (1944-1945).
- Studied law at the University of Alabama (1945-1949), but did not complete her degree.
- Spent a year as an exchange student at Oxford University.
Career and Major Achievements
- Moved to New York City in 1950 to pursue writing.
- Worked as an airline reservation clerk while writing.
- In 1957, she received a financial gift from friends allowing her to dedicate a year to writing.
- Published To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960.
- To Kill a Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961.
- Served on the National Council on the Arts.
Notable Works
| Title | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| To Kill a Mockingbird | 1960 | Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. |
| Go Set a Watchman | 2015 | An earlier draft of To Kill a Mockingbird, published later in her life. |
Legacy and Impact
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a landmark work of American literature, renowned for its exploration of racial injustice and childhood innocence in the Deep South. Analyzing aspects such as theme and characters is common, and often teachers utilize a 'harper lee biography powerpoint lesson' to introduce students to her life and context before reading her novels.