Kerry Madden: On the Trial of Harper Lee
[Kerry Madden is the author of "Up Close: Harper Lee" and the Maggie Valley series for young adult readers.]
In her last in-depth interview about writing, Harper Lee talked about her hometown, Monroeville, Ala., in 1964, telling Roy Newquist:
"We simply entertained each other by talking. It's quite a thing, if you've never been in or known a small Southern town. The people are not particularly sophisticated, naturally. They're not worldly wise in any way. But they tell you a story whenever they see you. We're oral types — we talk."
Sunday is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird," and Monroeville is still a place rich with stories and storytellers. Lee's oldest sister, Miss Alice Lee, 98, has been a lawyer in town for the last six decades at Bugg, Barnett & Lee, where her father, Mr. A.C. Lee, the inspiration for Atticus Finch, worked. There is a saying in Monroeville that if you don't know the answer, "Go ask Alice."...
...[W]alking the streets of Monroeville with my sister and listening to the residents' stories of long ago, I learned everything I needed to know to write the biography. Now when I do school visits and try to get kids to write their own stories, I tell them about Harper Lee and Truman Capote making up stories in the tree house, people-watching and exploring the world. I ask the kids to write their own stories of their secret places and have them map out their neighborhoods and to be the story-catchers in their families. I tell them a lot of people might tell them "no" along the way, but they just have to listen to the voice inside them telling them the right thing to do.
Nelle Harper Lee listened, and what would the world be like if she had decided to stay and finish law school or returned home to write for the Monroeville Journal as her father and sister suggested she do? We might not have Atticus, Jem, Scout, Dill or Boo, and I know my world would be just a little more lonesome without them.
Read entire article at LA Times
In her last in-depth interview about writing, Harper Lee talked about her hometown, Monroeville, Ala., in 1964, telling Roy Newquist:
"We simply entertained each other by talking. It's quite a thing, if you've never been in or known a small Southern town. The people are not particularly sophisticated, naturally. They're not worldly wise in any way. But they tell you a story whenever they see you. We're oral types — we talk."
Sunday is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird," and Monroeville is still a place rich with stories and storytellers. Lee's oldest sister, Miss Alice Lee, 98, has been a lawyer in town for the last six decades at Bugg, Barnett & Lee, where her father, Mr. A.C. Lee, the inspiration for Atticus Finch, worked. There is a saying in Monroeville that if you don't know the answer, "Go ask Alice."...
...[W]alking the streets of Monroeville with my sister and listening to the residents' stories of long ago, I learned everything I needed to know to write the biography. Now when I do school visits and try to get kids to write their own stories, I tell them about Harper Lee and Truman Capote making up stories in the tree house, people-watching and exploring the world. I ask the kids to write their own stories of their secret places and have them map out their neighborhoods and to be the story-catchers in their families. I tell them a lot of people might tell them "no" along the way, but they just have to listen to the voice inside them telling them the right thing to do.
Nelle Harper Lee listened, and what would the world be like if she had decided to stay and finish law school or returned home to write for the Monroeville Journal as her father and sister suggested she do? We might not have Atticus, Jem, Scout, Dill or Boo, and I know my world would be just a little more lonesome without them.