Study Task 1 - To Kill a Mockingbird - Research on the Author

Harper Lee

Her full name was Nelle Harper Lee and she was born in 1926. Her name orginated form her grandmothers with the letters spelt backwards. When she published she dropped it from the book because she didn't want people pronouncing it Nellie which she hated.

She came from the same town as Truman Capote who wrote In Cold Blood, they were both close childhood friends.

Her first book To Kill a Mockingbird became an instant classic making it difficult to follow on from.

Only a year before her death did she publish another book called Go Set A Watchman which followed the characters years later, although there were questions as to whether this was her choice or the publishers to print the book.

She mostly kept to herself after the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird and did not do an interview after the early 1960s.

After her death in February 2016, her will stated that there was no longer to be a mass market copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, only trade copies.

Comparisons between Harper Lee and Scout Finch 

Both:  
- were tomboys 
- had fathers that were lawyers
- had friends that were practically abandoned by their parents (Dill represents Truman Capote)
- were interested in reading