Harper Lee would have been 94 years old today. The famed author of "To Kill a Mockingbird" was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama. When she died -- on Feb. 19, 2016, at a nursing home, The Meadows of Monroeville -- the literary world mourned her passing. So did just about everyone who reveres "Mockingbird," Lee's enduring novel about racial tensions, social justice and life in a small Southern town.
Lee was an intensely private person, and the things we know for sure about her have been repeated over and over. Her tomboy years in Monroeville. Her friendship with a young Truman Capote. Her years as a struggling writer in New York City. Her devotion to family, including her sister, Alice Lee, and her father, Amasa Coleman Lee, the inspiration for Atticus Finch.
No one, not even Lee scholars, are under the illusion that they know everything about the author. She was much too reticent for that, much too practiced at avoiding the spotlight. In honor of Lee's birthday, however, we'd like to highlight a few pieces of information that have been uncovered in recent years, were revealed in her letters or simply made us go "Hmm." Here, then, are some things you might not know about Harper Lee.
