Harper Lee

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Here Are the NY Public Library's 10 Most Popular Books

'The Snowy Day' by Ezra Jack Keats has been checked out more than 485K times

(Newser) - Millions of books have exited and reentered the New York Public Library for more than a century, and the institution has finally run the numbers on some of its most popular offerings. The New York Times reports that the library sifted through the history of its inventory for six months...

A Baptist Serial Killer. A Famous Writer. Then, 'Mysteries'

The 'To Kill a Mockingbird' author struggled with an incredible case

(Newser) - When Harper Lee tried her hand at true-crime writing, she picked a doozey—but that didn't guarantee success, CBS News reports. The To Kill a Mockingbird author hadn't published in 17 years when she grew interested in Willie Maxwell, a Baptist minister in Alexander City, Alabama. Maxwell's...

Harper Lee Groused About Town Trying to Exploit Her

'They are trying to turn Harper Lee into a tourist attraction like Graceland and Elvis Presley'

(Newser) - To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee railed against her Alabama hometown for trying to exploit her success, registering her complaints in a letter that helps explain later legal battles involving commercialization of her novel. The writer's bitter assessment of Monroeville comes in a three-page letter that's being...

Small Theaters Drop Mockingbird Over Threats From Broadway

1969 contract gives producer the right to block competition

(Newser) - Small theaters around the US are canceling their productions of To Kill a Mockingbird after being threatened with legal action by a Broadway producer. Scott Rudin is notifying theaters that they're not permitted to stage the play, the New York Times reports, because there's a new adaptation, which...

Which Book Is America's Favorite? It's a Classic

Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' takes the top spot in PBS ranking

(Newser) - We all have a love affair with a certain book, or books, that stoked our imaginations, shaped our worldview, or otherwise brought us together in a shared bond with others in the avid-readers community. Quartz notes that PBS was curious which tome Americans most took to, and so the network...

Harper Lee's Estate Suing Over Sorkin's View of Atticus

Broadway play is still set to open in December, however

(Newser) - A Broadway production of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is still set to open this year despite a lawsuit filed by the estate of the author, an attorney for the producer said. Jonathan Zavin, who represents Scott Rudin's Rudinplay Inc., said Thursday the adaptation is scheduled to...

'Strikingly Opaque' Harper Lee Will Unsealed

It's not clear how estate has been divided up

(Newser) - Harper Lee's will was unsealed Tuesday in response to a lawsuit filed by the New York Times —but anybody hoping the document would answer some of the mysteries surrounding the author would have been extremely disappointed. The will, described by the Times as "strikingly opaque," does...

School District Pulls To Kill a Mockingbird From Curriculum

The Biloxi School District pulls the American classic after complaints about wording

(Newser) - Eighth grade English teachers in Biloxi, Mississippi, will have to find a new book to teach this semester after the Biloxi School District abruptly pulled To Kill a Mockingbird from its curriculum last week. On Wednesday or Thursday, district administrators yanked the classic 1960 novel by Harper Lee after receiving...

Harper Lee Reveals What Ruined Friendship With Capote

In 2006 letter, she calls her longtime friend a 'compulsive' liar

(Newser) - In the soon-to-be published contents of a decade-old letter, Harper Lee accused her "oldest friend," Truman Capote, of being an inveterate liar who destroyed their friendship with his jealousy. Wayne Flynt, an Alabama historian and longtime friend of Lee's in his own right, is publishing a book...

Harper Lee Biographer Unearths Her Article on Killings

She wrote about 'Cold Blood' case for an FBI magazine, before Capote's book

(Newser) - Harper Lee's biographer has dug up another piece of writing by the late author, but this time it's a magazine article instead of a controversial novel . Charles Shields has concluded that Lee is the author of an unsigned article about the notorious Clutter family murders in Kansas that...

You Can Now Hear Harper Lee Discussing Her Famous Novel

'As charming and thoughtful as the novel that made her so famous'

(Newser) - Available only to scholars for decades, on the date of Harper Lee's death last week the UCLA Library Special Collections released what may be the only recorded interview of Lee talking about her most famous work, according to a press release . And while the transcript of her 1964 interview...

Harper Lee Writes the Nicest Rejection Letter
Harper Lee Writes the
Nicest Rejection Letter
THE RUNDOWN
Feb 20, 2016 4:32 PM CST

Harper Lee Writes the Nicest Rejection Letter

Plus, a look at the author's legacy in the wake of her death

(Newser) - Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird—which Today praises as "a single perfect novel that's still mandatory reading in schools more than five decades later"— passed away Friday at the age of 89. Here are six things you need to know about her life, her...

Harper Lee Dead at 89
 Harper Lee Dead at 89 
Feb 19, 2016 9:43 AM CST

Harper Lee Dead at 89

Hometown sources confirm the story

(Newser) - Harper Lee, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of To Kill a Mockingbird, is dead at the age of 89, multiple sources from her Alabama hometown tell AL.com . Lee, born in Monroeville as Nelle Harper Lee in 1926, moved to New York in 1949 and got a job as an airlines...

Aaron Sorkin Bringing To Kill a Mockingbird to Broadway

Adaptation of Harper Lee novel scheduled for 2017-2018 season

(Newser) - It's already been made into an Oscar-winning movie ; now To Kill a Mockingbird is being transformed into a Broadway production. The New York Times reports that Harper Lee's acclaimed 1960 novel will be adapted for the Great White Way by Aaron Sorkin, best known for his work on...

Parents Change Name of Son From Atticus

New Harper Lee novel changes their view of Mr. Finch

(Newser) - Lots of To Kill a Mockingbird fans are angry that the newly released Go Set a Watchman depicts their beloved Atticus Finch as a racist. For Colorado parents David and Christen Epstein, however, it was especially galling—they'd named their baby boy Atticus 14 months ago. Solution: They've...

Lawyer Defends Harper Lee's New Book, Hints at 3rd

Tonja Carter maintains she found 'Go Set a Watchman' manuscript last year

(Newser) - Harper Lee's lawyer is standing her ground after the New York Times cast doubt on the discovery of Go Set a Watchman , the sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird out tomorrow. Though the Times suggested the manuscript was uncovered in the presence of Tonja Carter in 2011, she says...

The First Chapter of Harper Lee's New Book Is Here

It includes a 'bombshell' about Jem

(Newser) - Days before the official release of Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman—a book surrounded by controversy —the Wall Street Journal has gotten a look at the first chapter. It begins with Jean Louise Finch, aka Scout and now in her twenties, having "turned from an overalled,...

Discovery of Harper Lee Book Sounds Fishier Now

Lawyer may have had it for years

(Newser) - Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman will be released on July 14, and the New York Times reports on another development that casts doubt on the supposedly chance discovery of the manuscript last year. It seems to have been found in 2011 and not, as Lee's attorney maintains,...

6 of Harper Lee's Personal Letters 'Trickle Out'

But they fail to sell at auction

(Newser) - The reclusive Harper Lee reportedly wrote to friends a lot in her younger days, but few letters have "trickled out" because of her desire for privacy, as the New York Times puts it. That changed today when six she wrote to friend Harold Caufield between 1956 and 1961—before...

Ala. Agency: Harper Lee Aware of New Book

Securities Commission says author 'able to answer questions ... to our satisfaction'

(Newser) - Alabama investigators looked into whether the recent deal to publish Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird sequel involved financial fraud, but they've closed the inquiry, a state official said yesterday. Alabama Securities Commission Director Joseph Borg said his agency sent an investigator to speak with Lee because the...

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