# To Kill A Mockingbird author Harper Lee suing to get lost royalties.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 4, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503 "2013-05-04T22:41:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/1 "2013-05-04T22:41:35Z")
You gotta love people that pray on the elderly. :rolleyes: I’m glad the old gal is fighting back. Much like the characters in her book fought injustice.
Harper Lee has always been an enigma to me. She rarely gave interviews or made special appearances. Her association with Truman Capote is practically her only connection to the literary world. It’s a disappointment that she never published anything again.
The royalties must be significant. I’d guess that nearly every high school includes her book as required reading in English Lit.
> **[Harper Lee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harper_Lee)**
>
> Nelle Harper Lee (April 28, 1926 – February 19, 2016) was an American novelist whose 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and became a classic of modern American literature. She assisted her close friend Truman Capote in his research for the book In Cold Blood (1966). Her second and final novel, Go Set a Watchman, was an earlier draft of Mockingbird, set at a later date, that was published in July 2015 as a sequel.
> The plot and characters of To Kill a Mockingbird are l...
> **[Harper Lee sues literary agent over 'To Kill a Mockingbird' rights](https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-harper-lee-suit-to-kill-a-mockingbird-copyright-20130504-story.html)**
>
> Harper Lee, the 87-year-old author of "To Kill a Mockingbird," has filed suit against her literary agent over the rights to her classic novel.
> [@](#):
>
> Harper Lee, the 87-year-old author of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” has filed suit against her literary agent over the rights to her classic novel. The suit alleges that the agent took advantage of Lee’s age and infirmity when she assigned the copyright to him six years ago.
>
> In 2007, Lee was living in an assisted living facility and had recently suffered a stroke when she signed over the rights of “To Kill a Mockingbird” to her agent, Samuel Pinkus, and his agency Keystone Literary.
>
> “Pinkus knew that Harper Lee was an elderly woman with physical infirmities that made it difficult for her to read and see,” the complaint contends. “Harper Lee had no idea she had assigned her copyright” to Pinkus’ company, the suit states.
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### Author:  [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/2 "2013-05-05T02:44:20Z")
Well what do you know? For some reason I thought she was dead.
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2013, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/3 "2013-05-05T08:40:50Z")
Wait, she is alive?
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### Author:  [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2013, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/4 "2013-05-05T12:10:25Z")
SLIGHT TANGENT: Our daughter met her, at a rare public appearance at the U of Alabama (Roll, Tide!) library several years ago… and got her to sign a couple of copies of her book. So we have an autographed TKAM!
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2013, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/5 "2013-05-05T12:15:16Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#):
>
> SLIGHT TANGENT: Our daughter met her, at a rare public appearance at the U of Alabama (Roll, Tide!) library several years ago… and got her to sign a couple of copies of her book. So we have an autographed TKAM!
Very cool - probably one of the hardback anniversary editions? Those have a bit of value…
I had a signed bookplate that I added to my First of TKAM before I sold it.
I sure hope Miss Lee’s situation is put right.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/6 "2013-05-05T20:02:48Z")
From what I can tell, she just didn’t like fame, and found the pressure to make another book to be too much. (She claimed to have started research on one, but that fell through.)She was always chronically shy, and didn’t like everyone hounding her.
And I’m quite impressed with her. She didn’t like fame, so she stopped doing what her famous, instead of going around whining about it.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/7 "2013-05-05T21:26:43Z")
Back in either Aught-Five or Aught-Six, when I was a reference librarian at the U. of AL, I helped her a couple of times. She was looking at 1940s Alabama public records. I had no idea who she was until somebody literally gasped; after that the bongo drums started, the dean of the libraries and other faculty members came to bow and do homage and a big deal was made, and she was very gracious, but didn’t come back. I don’t know if her research was done or if she just didn’t like being recognized.
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### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/8 "2013-05-06T00:38:56Z")
I’ve always thought that she did a lot more than just the "research"on _In Cold Blood_. She didn’t particularly wish to be famous, and Capote wanted nothing more.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/9 "2013-05-06T00:47:09Z")
Somebody sticks it back to “the man” after “the man” tries to stick it to them.
But then again I was forced to read that damn book.
Personally I am torn.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2013, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/10 "2013-05-06T04:14:35Z")
Maybe you’re torn, but I consider “that damn book” to be one of the finest pieces of literature of the 20th century, and would highly recommend it to anyone, required or not.
Let her agent go after the rights after she’s dead. If she had intended to sign the rights away, she would have done it ages ago.
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### Author:  [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/11 "2013-05-07T18:32:27Z")
> [@billfish678](#):
>
> Somebody sticks it back to “the man” after “the man” tries to stick it to them.
>
> But then again I was forced to read that damn book.
>
> Personally I am torn.
TKAM was the only book we read during the Death March Through American and British Literature in high school that everyone in the class liked. That alone will keep it on my shelf forever (well, that and it being a ripping good yarn).
Someone should have warned the agent you don’t try to pull one over on a little old Southern lady. They’re wily.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/12 "2013-05-07T19:27:12Z")
TKAM is why I still call friends, be they male or female, celibate or promiscuous, a “whore lady!” when I’m frustrated with them. I’ve also been known to say “That was right smart of you Miss Mayella” when i feel they’re wanting too much credit for something. Drives them nuts.
I would love to see a miniseries of TKAM that stays closer to the book and doesn’t focus mostly on the rape trial. Most of my favorite characters (the new teacher, the old morphine addict, the white man with the biracial family, Atticus’s sister, etc.) who were dropped from the movie version.
My cousin just named his newborn son Atticus, btw. I understand there are many Atticuses and Scouts running around due to that book.
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### Author:  [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/13 "2013-05-07T20:12:02Z")
> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> TKAM is why I still call friends, be they male or female, celibate or promiscuous, a “whore lady!” when I’m frustrated with them. I’ve also been known to say “That was right smart of you Miss Mayella” when i feel they’re wanting too much credit for something. Drives them nuts.
>
> I would love to see a miniseries of TKAM that stays closer to the book and doesn’t focus mostly on the rape trial. Most of my favorite characters (the new teacher, the old morphine addict, the white man with the biracial family, Atticus’s sister, etc.) who were dropped from the movie version.
>
> My cousin just named his newborn son Atticus, btw. I understand there are many Atticuses and Scouts running around due to that book.
A lady I know named her dog Scout because she loved that book so much. She’s now a J.D.
The movie disappointed me so much with the costuming at the end. The papier-mache ham didn’t have the same drama inherent as the chicken-wire and cloth ham from the book.
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/14 "2013-05-07T21:10:23Z")
My favorite thing about the book is a conversation I was having with an old high school friend a couple of years ago. He asked me, “Summarize the plot of To Kill A Mocking Bird. What is the story about?”
And I thought for a moment and said, “it’s the story of how Scout’s brother broke his arm.” He shouted loudly, “I can’t believe it!!! No one ever gets that question right! They always go on about racism and the trial and whatnot.”
But yeah. A great story of how a kid broke his arm. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-kill-a-mockingbird-author-harper-lee-suing-to-get-lost-royalties/657503/15 "2013-05-07T21:25:04Z")
[QUOTE=drewtwo99]
But yeah. A great story of how a kid broke his arm. 🙂
[/QUOTE]
Both the first and last sentences are about this.