Harper Lee (Author) Harper Lee was born in 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama. She is the author of the acclaimed To Kill a Mockingbird, originally published in 1960, and Go Set a Watchman, published in July 2015. Ms. Lee received the Pulitzer Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and numerous other literary awards and honors. She died on February 19, 2016. Casey Cep (Introducer) Casey Cep is at work on the authorized biography of Harper Lee. A staff writer at The New Yorker, she is the author of the bestselling book Furious Hours- Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee. She was born and raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where she still lives with her family.