Author Background – To Kill a Mockingbird

Directions: Search various websites to answer the following questions. Do not get all your
answers from one source!

1. What is the author’s full name? Harper Lee

2. When was the author born? Has the author died? If so, when? He was Born in
1930. He died On February 19, 2016.

3. Where did the author grow up? Does this part of her background reflect any
detail from the novel? The author experienced childhood in Monroeville, Alabama. Truly it
reflects detail from the novel since it happens in Alabama too.

4. Explain how the father of the author may have played a role in her novel?
Lee's father was a lawyer, a member of the Alabama state legislature, and also
owned part of the local newspaper, so he could have an inspiration.

5. What have you learned about the author’s mother from the articles? Lee's mom
experienced bipolar disorder, which caused some issues.

6. Who was Truman Capote and what was Lee's relationship with him? Truman
Capote was one of Lee’s best friends

7. Lee was most likely a “Roll Tide” fan…why? Because she had a reputation of
giving interviews

8. How did Lee feel about “fashion, makeup or dating”? She didn't like it, she
grew up as a tomboy.

9. In college, Lee was known for being a loner and an endalfegist .

10. During her college years, what did Lee do in New York City? She was an airline
reservationist, but later she became a full time writer.

11. What award did the novel win and when? It won the Pulitzer Prize Winning Best Seller
award in 1961.

12. Lee studied law before becoming a writer. TRUE or FALSE? False

13. Where did Lee work in 1949? A reservations clerk for Eastern Air Lines and British
Overseas Airways.
14. What “gift” did the Browns give Lee in 1956? A full year salary

15. In what year was To Kill a Mockingbird published? 1960

16. In what magazine was a condensed version of the novel was published? Reader's
Digest magazine

17. In what ways is the life of Harper Lee reflected in her novel? There are a number of
similarities to Lee's life and the life of Scout and Atticus Finch. Lee's father was a
southern lawyer, like Atticus. According to childhood friends, Lee was a tomboy like
Scout.

18. Search for an interview with Harper Lee. When was the interview conducted? What
is unique about this interview? Also, although you cannot listen to the audio, what is one
detail about the interview that shows the time period it is from? July, 2010. It was done
when she was an eledrly lady. It has a photo of her when she was an elederly
lady.

19. What is one new thing you learned in your research today that is not asked about on
this assignment? Lee left her university one semester before getting her degree.

20. What is another new thing you learned while doing this research? She never
planned to publish anything she wrote until the story “To Kill A Mockingbird”.