'To Kill a Mockingbird' Author Harper Lee Has Died at 89

Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, has died in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, AL.com reports. She was 89 years old.

Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, released in 1960, had long been her only published novel. But the story of Jean Louise "Scout" Finch's childhood in Maycomb, Alabama, and her father Atticus's heroic court battle against racial injustice stands as a hallmark in American literature. Her opus won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961, and it remains one of the most widely taught and referenced books in the US today.

Lee has lived a fiercely private life since, almost never granting interviews or meeting with reporters—she even turned down an interview offer from Oprah. She recently made headlines when Go Set a Watchman, billed as a sequel but is more accurately an earlier draft of To Kill a Mockingbird, hit bookstores last July, raising many questions across the literary world. In the novel, Finch, the highly moral figure in Mockingbird, is instead written as a racist. Combined with the surprising timing of the book—after the death of her sister, Alice, who had been the diligent protector of her work and legacy—many wondered if the decision to publish Watchman was made without Lee's approval.

UPDATE: President Obama paid his respects to Harper Lee through his Facebook page. Like most readers, Obama memorialized the theme of empathy that was at the core of her masterpiece.

"Through the uncorrupted eyes of a child, she showed us the beautiful complexity of our common humanity, and the importance of striving for justice in our own lives, our communities, and our country," he said.

First Lady Michelle Obama co-signed Obama's statement by tweeting it.