Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird author, dies aged 89

Harper Lee, author of the much-loved novel To Kill a Mockingbird, died this morning.

The Wood River Valley literary community is reacting to the news that Pulitzer Prize winning author, Harper Lee, passed away at the age of 89.

Those who held Lee in high regard span the spectrum from politicians to actors, authors and business leaders.

“Watchman” includes numerous same characters found in “To Kill A Mockingbird”.

“The world knows Harper Lee was a brilliant writer but what many don’t know is that she was an extraordinary woman of great joyfulness, humility and kindness”, said Harper Collins president Michael Morrison. We saw her once a year for many years. Susan Hansen, an English teacher at Millhopper Montessori School and an Alabama native, has a signed copy of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, purchased when she visited the town.

That didn’t stop her from becoming a state treasure who’s writing skills are celebrated far beyond Alabama’s state lines.

Few writers – certainly none known mainly for a single work of fiction – have sparked a massive outpouring of grief and affection like that heard across the nation Friday.

Students at Chaminade College Preparatory read the popular novel just past year.

“Let’s celebrate the life of Harper Lee, who wrote an American classic and helped her friend Truman Capote write another”, King tweeted yesterday.

Thank you, Harper Lee. But “Go Set a Watchman” still became a best seller, the fastest-selling book in HarperCollins’ publishing history.

When my son Henry was born, Ms. Lee signed a copy of Looking for Alaska for him with the inscription, “Welcome to the world Henry Atticus”. George W Bush awarded her the presidential medal of freedom in 2007. She inexorably shifted discourse surrounding race relations, and the core of what she conveyed still touches and affects thousands of readers today.

Upchurch didn’t see one generation drawn more to To Kill a Mockingbird than another.

“I was a first-time writer, so I did as I was told”, Lee said in a 2015 statement.

He said he’d considered visiting Lee at her assisted living facility earlier this week, but didn’t make it there.

“She was witty, savagely witty as she always is”.