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BACKGROUND Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama and is the youngest of four children of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee. After graduating from high school in Monroeville, Harper attended the female Huntingdon College in Montgomery for only a year before transferring to law school at the University Of Alabama in 1945 . While there, she wrote for several student publications and spent a year as editor of the campus humor magazine, ''Rammer-Jammer''. Though she did not complete the requirements of her law degree, she pursued studies for a year in Oxford , England , before moving to New York in 1950 , where she worked as a reservation clerk with Eastern Air Lines . CAREER ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' In order to concentrate on writing, Lee gave up her job and moved into a small no-frills apartment. Lee eventually put together a series of her own short stories about life in the South , and submitted them to the J. P. Lippincott & Co. for publication in 1957 . For the next two and a half years she re-worked the manuscript with the help of her editor, Tay Hohoff, and produced '' To Kill A Mockingbird ''. ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' was an immediate best-seller and won her great critical acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize For Fiction in 1961 . It remains a Bestseller today and has earned a secure place in the Canon of American Literature . In 1999 , it was voted "Best Novel of the Century" in a poll conducted by the '' Library Journal ''. Truman Capote , a lifelong friend and childhood neighbor, was allegedly the inspiration for the character of Dill in ''To Kill a Mockingbird''. He sometimes implied that he himself had written a considerable portion of the novel, and at least one person, Pearl Kazin Bell, an editor at '' Harper's '' who cited Lee's failure to produce another novel, has gone on record supporting the theory of his co-authorship. A letter from Capote to his aunt, dated July 9 , 1959 , indicates that he had seen Lee's manuscript but did not take any credit for it. Lee was overwhelmed with the immediate success of this first book. In a conversation with Roy Newquist for his 1964 book ''Counterpoint'', she revealed her reaction: I never expected any sort of success with 'Mockingbird.' I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers but, at the same time, I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. Public encouragement. I hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening as the quick, merciful death I'd expected. ''In Cold Blood'' In 1959 , Lee worked with Truman Capote as an assistant for his novel, '' In Cold Blood '', traveling with him to Holcomb, Kansas , to conduct research. Capote credited her with "secretarial work," and dedicated the book to her as well as his lover Jack Dunphy . In 2006 , actress Catherine Keener was nominated for an Academy Award for playing Lee in the 2005 film '' Capote '' about this episode. After ''Mockingbird'' Since the publication of ''Mockingbird'', Lee has granted almost no requests for interviews or public appearances, and with the exception of a few short essays, has published no further writings. She favorably reviewed the 1962 Academy Award -winning Screenplay adaptation of ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' by Horton Foote , saying that, "If the integrity of a Film Adaptation can be measured by the degree to which the novelist's intent is preserved, Mr. Foote's screenplay should be studied as a classic." She also became a close friend of the late star Gregory Peck , who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch , the father of Scout, the narrator of the novel. She remains close to the actor's family. Peck's grandson, Harper Peck Voll, is named for her. In June of 1966, Harper Lee was one of two persons named by President Johnson to the National Council Of Arts . In the same year, on November 28th, Truman Capote held his Black and White Dance in honor of Katharine Graham. ''In Cold Blood'' had been published in January, with its dedication to Jack Dunphy and Harper Lee. The 480 invitations included one to Lee. Lee attended the 1983 Alabama History and Heritage Festival in Eufaula, Alabama. She presented the essay ''Romance and High Adventure''. In his book ''Lost Friendships'' Donald Windham reported that in 1984 Lee attended a dinner at his home after the memorial for Truman Capote. She came with Alvin and Marie Dewey, who she had met when in Kansas with Capote to do research for ''In Cold Blood''. Lee has been known to split time between an apartment in New York and her sister's home in Monroeville. She has accepted Honorary Degree s, but has declined to make speeches. At the urging of Peck's widow Veronique, Lee traveled by train from Monroeville to Los Angeles , in 2005 to accept the Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award. She has also attended luncheons for students who have written essays based on her work held annually at the University of Alabama. Her withdrawal from public life has prompted persistent but unfounded speculation that new publications are in the works. Similar speculation has followed contemporaneous American writer J.D. Salinger . Ralph Ellison attracted similar attention during his life. WORKS BY HARPER LEE
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