Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1962 in Monroeville, Alabama.
She is the youngest of 4 children and is also a descendant of Robert E. Lee, a .
general of the civil war. Harper's father was a newspaper editor and lawer .
who once served as a state senator. Harper also studied law in the University .
of Alabama from 1945 to 1950. She also spent a year as an exchange student .
in Oxford University,Wellington Square. Before 6 months of finishing her .
studies, she decided to pursue a literary career so she then went to New .
York. During the 1950's in NY, she worked as a airline reservation clerk with .
Eastern Air Lines and British Overseas Airways. .
Harper wanted to concentrate with her writing so she decided to give .
up her position as a clerk in order to have more time to write her books. .
Harper Lee submitted her novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird, in 1957. After two .
years, her novel was finally published. In June of 1966, President Johnson .
named Harper Lee to the National Council of Arts. Her book, To Kill a Mocking .
Bird, was also awarded the Pultzer Prize in 1961. In her book, the characters .
are inspired by the people in her life. "Harper Lee did not live to see her 50th .
birthday, but her remarkable novel which continued the best traditions of the .
American authors who wrote about America's South - Mark Twain, William .
Faulkner, Erskine Caldwell and many others - will forever belong in the .
treasure of progressive American literature.".