American · 1926–2016
Harper Lee won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with "To Kill a Mockingbird," a novel about racial injustice in Depression-era Alabama that became required reading in American schools. The American author based Atticus Finch partly on her father, a lawyer who defended Black clients. Lee published no other novel for fifty-five years until the controversial "Go Set a Watchman" appeared shortly before her death. Her single masterpiece proved sufficient for lasting fame.