Born: 28 April 1926, United States
Died: 19 February 2016
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Nelle Harper Lee
The following is republished from the National Endowment for the Arts. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Harper Lee is recognized for her contribution to American literature with her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird. A powerful statement of the Civil Rights movement, the novel continues to speak to new generations about tolerance and justice. To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 to highly favorable reviews and quickly climbed the bestseller lists, where it remained for 88 weeks. Since being published, To Kill a Mockingbird has sold more than 30 million copies in 18 languages. In 2007, President George W. Bush bestowed upon Lee the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
Compare this to Truman Capote. The childhood friend of Harper Lee never publicly refuted claims that he was the true author behind her classic American novel To Kill A Mockingbird, of which there is no evidence. Capote, the writer behind In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, was known to be petty, jealous and attention-seeking, so it’s no surprise that he would be happy to take credit where it was not due, even if he never verifiably claimed it himself. Some claim the rumour started with literary critic Pearl Belle, to whom Capote may have implied that he wrote or significantly contributed to the book. Though this cannot be verified, it would not be out of character for Capote to have hinted at a falsehood like this, even if he did not go so far as to lie outright. Indeed, when his own book In Cold Blood came out, Lee herself was mentioned in the dedication (alongside Capote’s lover), yet she was not properly acknowledged for the months of research that she contributed to the groundbreaking non-fiction novel. Reportedly, it was Lee’s down-to-earth manner—a marked contrast to Capote’s flamboyance—that won the trust of the rural Kansans, facilitating the interviews that made the book possible.