Harper Lee, the author of the literary classic "To Kill A Mockingbird," died in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, on Friday, city officials confirmed. She was 89.
Lee's attorney, Tonja Carter, said in a statement to Reuters that the author "passed away early this morning in her sleep" unexpectedly.
Her iconic book, published in 1960, went on to win the Pulitzer Prize, and she returned to the news last year with "Go Set a Watchman," widely considered to be the original first draft of her award-winning work.
Lee left Alabama in 1948 for New York City to follow her dreams of becoming a writer. "To Kill A Mockingbird" went on to become an Academy Award-winning movie in the early 1960s.
AL.com wrote that Lee had returned to Monroeville and later suffered a stroke in 2007.
"To Kill A Mockingbird," set in Depression-era Alabama, followed lawyer Atticus Finch, who defended a black man falsely accused of rape, as told through the eyes of his Finch's young daughter, nicknamed Scout.
"Go Set A Watchman," reportedly written by Lee in the 1950s, was
described by USA Today as an earlier draft of "To Kill A Mockingbird," recasting Finch as a racist and surprising many of her fans.
"The world knows Harper Lee was a brilliant writer but what many don't know is that she was an extraordinary woman of great joyfulness, humility, and kindness," Michael Morrison, president and publisher of
HarperCollins U.S. general books group and Canada, said in a statement. "She lived her life the way she wanted to — in private — surrounded by books and the people who loved her. I will always cherish the time I spent with her."
News of Lee's death has prompted a wide outpouring of condolences on social media.