Today's birthday, April 28
Today's birthday, April 28: US author Harper Lee (1926-)
Reclusive author Harper Lee only published one novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, but is one of the most famous writers in the world.
Born in Alabama on April 28, 1926, Harper Lee was the youngest of five children.
She had an interest in English literature at school but after graduating studied law at the University of Alabama in 1944.
She didn't complete her law degree and moved to New York City where she worked as an airline ticket agent, writing in her spare time.
In 1956, Lee's friend, Broadway composer Michael Martin Brown, offered to support her for a year so she could concentrate on her writing - she quit her job.
In 1960, Lee's first and only book, To Kill a Mockingbird, was published.
The book became an immediate best seller and won her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961.
Following her success, Lee worked for her childhood friend Truman Capote, who was writing an article for The New Yorker about a family murder in Kansas.
Together they travelled to the town to interview residents and investigators.
Capote's article turned into his non-fiction book, In Cold Blood (1966), which was dedicated to Lee for her assistance on the project.
Since her book was published, Lee has remained out of the public eye and granted very few interviews, with the exception of accepting honours from presidents and universities.
To Kill a Mockingbird was adapted into a film in 1962 and in a rare public comment Lee said the screenplay was one of the best adaptations she had ever seen.
On February 3, 2015, Lee announced that she would publish her second novel, Go Set a Watchman, in mid-July 2015.
The 88-year-old currently resides in a nursing home in Alabama.
