This is about an hour and 20 minutes. Lets see if this mic is hot. It is. Good evening. Right on cue. I am jake reese with alabama booksmith and on behalf of our dedicated staff of awesome booksellers and this entire crew at the magnificent alabama theater and the geniuses at Penguin Press who have published the book the literary world has anticipated for half a century. It is my privilege and pleasure to welcome you to a mockingbird tribute. We also say a big hi yall to the viewers on cspan. The theater audience has enjoyed watching and hearing catherine check in with them on the big screen tell personal harper lee stories before the start of the main event. Each attendee has received a signed First Edition of the mockingbird next door with their ticket. Many of you wanted extra copies for friends and for gifts. They are available at alabama booksmith. Com. The folks sitting here will also soak up the ambience from this early 20th Century Movie palace that has been lovingly restored to its original charm. The final perk of being present is that one lucky patron will walk away tonight with this 50th Anniversary Edition of to kill a mockingbird with a book signed by harper lee. The rest of the evening format will be opening remarks by our distinguished visitor, a conversation with replies to our inquiries, questions from the audience that you have written down as you entered the theater and then the drawing for the price. This podium will soon belong to the author of the hottest book in america. We just found out about two hours ago that you were the first to know that it will debut this sunday on the New York Times bestseller list at number four and it has only been out for a few days. [applause] and you own a signed First Edition. It has been praised and damned by the New York Times, the Washington Post and almost every other newspaper, radio talk show and Television News program out there, not to mention tweets, Facebook Comments covering the planet. Many of you like quite a few of the reviews we have seen have an opinion before you have read the book. We ask that thoughtful literati reserve judgment until you have heard the presentation and the answers to the questions posed. We hesitate to take any more of the speakers time for much of an introduction as the media has done that job for us. We will share that the georgetown graduate almonds a Pulitzer Prize, a marvelous sense of humor, and a respectful gentleman or that will be apparent as soon as you meet h her. Even though she has spent quite a bit of time in our state and watched many College Football games, she will not tell us if she is or war eagle. There is one controversy she does not avoid. When it comes to the coke and pepsi wars. Since her grandfather ran a two man cocacola bottling plant back in her hometown of Black River Falls wisconsin, she maintains a strong preference for diet coke. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to sweet home alabama, marja mills. [applause] thank you. [applause] thank you so much. Just thrilled to be here and see this gorgeous theater i had been hearing about and reading about for quite sometime. Thank you jake for what you said and putting together just a magical evening. It was for me such a privilege to get to know no harper lee and her older sister alice lee and to have them share these stories with me, those that chose to share and a privilege to share them with you. Some of my favorite times as harpers for example were around the Kitchen Table and the house i rented next door to the heirs. I hope you will just pull up a chair to the Kitchen Table with us and lets share some stories. Lets celebrate with no harper lee and her equally remarkable sister alice lee and also the friends in the family in that town who so generously helped me to understand the context of their lives and of that town. Please pull up a chair and lets have a good chat around the Kitchen Table. Well, that was short and sweet. We will just get right to it. I have been edited for some time now is i was preparing this book and im always trying to see if i can use fewer words which is not usually the first option that comes to mind. No editing this evening. You are carte blanche. All right. I think a great opening comment, if you would share with the audience just what went through your mind when you were at the best western motel in monroeville alabama. The telephone in your room rings and the voice on the other end says hello, this is harper lee. I wonder if we might meet and ive tried to keep my voice from rising a couple of octaves and felt as if the wizard of oz had just placed a call to my hotel room. And i was surprised and just thrilled at the chance to speak with her. Right away i think i have the sense of what a downtoearth person she was and not as shy as i think i had pictured her perhaps. She asked if it would be all right to come by the next day and i said yes. She showed up at the appointed time and began the first of what was many conversations over the years to come. One of the first times i remember sharing a good laugh with her, the first of so many was when i was telling her about my reason for being in monroeville which was that the Chicago Library system has selected to kill a mockingbird as its first election in one book, one chicago which was designed to get people around the city from all walks of life reading and talking about the same book. So i was telling her more about the activities in chicago around that selection area did the reason that i had been sent to monroe as a feature writer for the Chicago Tribune. Not with the thought of interviewing her so much knowing that she was private bed with the thought of talking to people around town seeing this place that really is known to readers around the world in the fictional form that it helped inspire any way. So i was telling her that they were showing the movie as part of this in chicago. She leaned over this little table actually that was in the best western room and said, gregory peck, isnt he delicious . [laughter] and i just thought all right, this is going to be a different kind of conversation than i thought. It was such a delight and it was also the first indication of touching on things that came out of that movie that i think means the world to so many of us. It was a friendship with gregory peck that lasted through his death and after he died i believe in 2003 with his widow veronique and with their family. As well as the wonderful playwright who won an oscar for adapting talking bird to the screen. There was something just wonderful all those years later, hearing about these men referred to as some of the last gentleman. I think she had an appreciation of the talent and the sensibility that came together to bring us all that movie. Im glad you mentioned flynt. There is a footnote. [laughter] throughout the book you reference harper lees sense of humor and one of my favorite little perks if you will was when she received a phonecall from horton foote. You have is gentlemans deep voice down. I quoted in the New York Times where she said horton foote after all these years now look like god only cleanshaven. We were having breakfast and not too long after that had appeared. She told me she had answered the phone in this modest, i always laugh it since described as modest in the new story so i apologize but in their modest rhetoric house. In monroeville the phone rang and she answered it and these two old friends caught up and at the end of the conversation he simply said remember god bless you. [laughter] and she said it was such a twinkle in her eye. Ive mentioned to jake earlier today who, i truly appreciate what you have done, where were we with horton foote . The sense of humor. The theater audience before the main event started got to see catherine telling harper lee stories. You mentioned Catherine Tucker wind in your book and about listening to her audiotapes. Tell us what brought that on. You know, really all i needed in monroeville and let me backup by giving you the context in which i move to monroeville. I had known the lee sisters for three years at that point. They were very helpful in what became a very long newspaper story with some sidebars that i prepared for the trivium and it encouraged me to come back, which i did and then spoke with them about the possibility of spending longer, actually spending some time living in monroeville. People in birmingham who know real estate prices here will appreciate maybe that i had the idea that maybe i would find an apartment over someones garage. I really didnt need very much, didnt want very much but in a small town like that an apartment that is a rental is actually hard to come by or a house for example to rent. A good friend of theirs had suggested that i look at the house two doors down from beyers whereby that time i had spent a lot of time with both of them. Something that i could rant for a time in monroeville. I did say to both nell harper into alice i wonder if that would be too close for comfort . I dont even want to inquire about that at that might be the case. But they encouraged me to look at it and i did. It was far more house than one person needed but as somebody who lived in downtown chicago, the ranch that they proposed charging, this was a house that they had hoped to sell it in a difficult market were willing to rent. They were going to charge me the outlandish sum of 650 a month. For quite a nice house which sounded pretty good too to somebody who lives in downtown chicago. However when i told the lee sisters about this nell harpers response was to words. Highway robbery. [laughter] i think she was offended by the idea that i would pay more than she thought i should be. In the same friend pointed out the house next door to the lees had been vacant for some time. It too was for sale. This one had actually been for sale for some time but hadnt sold. It had some storm damage and at that time had just been on the part market for quite a while. Nell harper and alice offered to service references. I worked it out with a young man who owned the house who had been transferred to another city that i would rent it monthtomonth while was on the market. Perfect, a place for many live in a way for him to have some income while waiting to see in which month this would sell. You can imagine in the middle of the night i had to fight the urge to go out and take that for sale sign out of the front yard and hide it in his garage. I was hoping it would be available long enough for me to spend a good amount of time there and indeed it was. I ended up renting that house for 18 months from the fall of 2004 until the spring of 2006. One of my favorite things to hear, when i picked up the phone and my little modest but nice red brick house was high, do you have a pot of coffee going and might i come over and talk around the Kitchen Table . We did that quite often as well as pretty regulars, regulars at mcdonalds for talks over coffee. I remember having to wait for nell harper in the parking lot. We had driven separate cars on that day in the tennessee game was on. She was asking if i couldnt wait until she had the final score for us to go in and have our coffee. And with alice lee i would mention one reason i think that nell harper referred to her as atticus in a skirt is that she too like their father who was an inspiration clearly for the Atticus Finch character was an attorney and a small town who practice in this quiet steadfast way. And was 15 years older than nell harper. So new her as a girl. She was scouts age for example. It was a sisterly relationship yet there were times i felt she was as much mother and sister were that age difference and of course would let me know how her baby sister was doing in new york, those times when harper was in new york. As a lot of you know she lived this really interesting parallel existence in a way between an apartment in manhattan and then would take the train and spend time with alice in monroeville. I think it tells you something about her, that she had such a tight to both of those very different places. Sissy spacek wrote in her memoirs that recording the audio from to kill a mockingbird was one of the best thing she did in her professional career. You mentioned the friendship that nell had with gregory peck earlier. Gregory peck said in his biography that Atticus Finch was his role of a lifetime. Give us a perspective on why those two giants of the entertainment world would make such statements . My understanding from what ive read about both of them is for me the first when it comes to mind when i think of how generous they were ensuring their time with me. I think its a privilege to know her and to know the people around her. Its also a privilege though i think to try to honor a work that means so much to so many people and has remarkably so since it first was published in 1960. I remember the first time i saw alice lee who stands maybe 5 feet tall on a good day, very petite, going to their p. O. Box on the downtown square in monroeville and i know some of you have been there and can picture what im talking about. She would have her plastic bag from a Grocery Store and would put in the correspondence that all those years later, i think about 40 years later when i first was spending time with them would stream into that p. O. Box with people wanting to tell both of them oftentimes, certainly no harper with the book meant to them and why. Its a book that a lot of people feel a personal attachment to. They appreciate it as a classic novel but i think theres also a sense of maybe there is a little bit of a guide to living for some people and characters that a lot of people feel attached to. Im suspecting that there might be more than one grandchild among these people who are named atticus or harper or scout. I can hardly see with these lights but im thinking thats a safe bet if i were a gambling person raid i think thats one more reflection of what why it means so much to people to try to do honor to their work. There were so many scenes in your book that put a normal ordinary image in the readers mind of this literary mysterious woman. Would you elaborate on the ambience of feeding the ducks, and you having mentioned coffee at mcdonalds. We drank oceans of coffee over time. Wardrobe shopping at walmart and i love this, feeding quarters in the washing machine xl alabama. One of the things i really appreciated most as i got to know nell harper and alice was how simply they lived. And i think for me one of the most instructive things may be in getting a glimpse of their life that a harper ever said was on a drive in this relates to what we are talking about. This was on the drive and that was one of the great pleasures was exploring that part of the scenery with to better guys did not exist clearly. We passed a beautiful old southern home, grand home. Alice was in the passenger seat and i was in the backseat so that was kind of a common configuration that we pass this beautiful old home and harper admired it. She said, one thing about us referring to her and to alice is we can appreciate beauty without needing to possess it. Then i thought, what a lovely look at the way in my experience that kind of dealt with the world of material things. I think people even now when they hear how simply they lived are surprised and maybe a little bit inspired by that. I think its so easy to spend time on wardrobe or updating a house on things. In my experience or on television. These were not things that took very much of their time in my experience. It was refreshing. That was a wonderful perception that so many of us think of as mysterious but you made it seem as normal as blueberry pie. Well and i have to say getting a sense of them in that town where they grew up, for me one of the great pleasures was there was a story i think for them i drive. Just about every property we drove by there was a story of a family that had lived there and the feud that started three generations earlier and the way it had been patched over maybe. And all the stories that lurk in that landscape. I often would just try to get a sense of what it was like for them growing up there and being the ones who were listening to those stories. They had an aunt alice who was their mother sister. She sounded like quite a character and whenever there was an aunt alice doria didnt take long before i heard most of those a time or two. So often hearing about them more and they grew up as a lot of people in their generation did hear, hearing stories that werent just information but it was that pleasure in telling the story and appreciating these characters a lot of times in the town and in the family and having a bit of a sense of humor i think about human foibles that they can be a source of great consternation for owl of us but also for humor and there is something human about that but they appreciated. I think thats the word is human for all of those items. I thought one of the most powerful parts of the book was at that time when there was a confluence of three major advance in harper lees life. The movie capote was just coming out. The movie infamous was just coming out with Sandra Bullock playing harper lee and catherine playing harper lee and capote and at the same time charles shields violette biography was coming out. You write and we read the influence and how that affected harper lees feelings and in the book you say this, where she got a copy of the tape of capote. A bootleg copy. I wasnt going to say it but a bootleg copy and playing it at the residence and they had a little trouble both of them at that time hearing so you are, i love this, saying the words that nell said i did not say. Did use could you set that scene . Certainly and this was yet another redbrick modest house in the neighborhood that belong to a friend of theirs who also had become a friend of mine, someone who was a fellow methodist in their congregation and with whom they took a lot of day outings in that kind of thing. In this crowd if you are as technologically unsophisticated as i am but you want to feel like a rock star in the tech world, hang out with people who are impressed if you can press fastforward. And rewind. I called them my grayhaired. Not only nell harper and alice but some of their friends who are quite a bit older. So someone who knew how to work in this case it wasnt even a dvd player. It was a vcr, came in handy. One evening i think theyll harper is anybody would not knowing how to be portrayed in Something Like that and wondering about this experience you actually had been brought to the screen. The imagination and research of filmmakers. She wanted to see a family went to this friends house who had a vcr. She had hearing difficulties already other time as did alice lee. The first remote button i was pushing was the volume and that was, we were going to watch the beginning of this movie that she knew was about to be seen by all kinds of people around the country. I said just tell me when its loud enough. Of course it went upandup and up and i think a lot of you can relate to how difficult that is, particularly she got up as close as she could but it was hard to hear all the dialogue. So we fell into a routine where i would pause after a line or two of dialogue and tell her, i wasnt sure that evening whether i should be saying and then you said. Or and then she said and so i settled on, and then you said. It was so interesting. Every couple of lines of dialogue to pause and repeated and she often had commentary on that and to go through the movie that way. I couldnt help thinking that evening as she was going home after this but ended up being quite a special evening at the friends house, if that was odd for me, you imagine what it was like for her . And i think on a sad note she had been so complementary of Philip Seymour hoffmans performance as Truman Capote. I think he was quite a big man in real life and somehow manage to inhabit this very petite figure and very sort of particular mannerisms of Truman Capote who has a think all of you now have been her childhood playmate for a time in monroeville and adult friends although not without bumps as adults. She predicted that evening well before he was to win the oscar that he would do so and said it was uncanny the way he had been able to capture something essential about Truman Capote. I remember making a note to myself that when the book did come out they would be wonderful to be able to share a little bit more about that. I was actually driving to the airport here when i got the news that he had passed away and felt the sadness that i think everyone who admires his work he meant a little extra because about the lost opportunity to share with him her appreciation of the movie. She also has told me that she wrote the filmmaker of the other movie, the other capote movie as they probably dont like to be known but i believe it came out second. Infamy is the one where Sandra Bullock plays nell and she spotted in a photograph about the filming of that movie, Sandra Bullock, wearing i believe it was white bobby socks with black pumps. Nell is not someone who has spent a lot of time as i mentioned worrying about fashi fashion. But that was a little more than she could take. [laughter] and i remember her saying, i never told me after the movie came out she did drop a note to the filmmaker and said you have created a creature of such sweetness and light and called her harper lee that i forget the socks. [laughter] i will ask the staff while im finishing up these questio questions, staff will bring me audience questions and the stubs so we will get to the drawing eventually. If you can bring those up on stage we would appreciate it. Hold it. What took so long . Let me just bring them on around. Can you have a timeout . Thank you. I really want to ask this question and i dont, im sure many in the audience knows. Hey jake before you start im thinking that in a letter i want to read right on the chapter a few minutes ago. I think he started to ask me about Catherine Tucker wyndham and after spending this much time with alabama storytellers you will have to forgive me if i take some side trips. I have been tutored in that school of storytelling i would say. I think you had asked me how it was that nell gave me some of the tapes of Catherine Tucker wyndham telling those marvelous stories of hers. Not terribly long after i moved next door and was settling into this house with these unfamiliar wishes of his old furnace and getting thoroughly spooked at times. There were taxidermy on the walls that didnt match my decorah at home and it took a little getting used to, i considered the first night it was there hanging towels over the deer head. There were a couple of other creatures, i wasnt entirely sure what they were pretty i felt like those marble eyes were following me as i was unpacking the books. I decided that would be creepy or been having the marble eyes following me so i learned to live with my roommates. But it was lonely sometimes. I have lupus which is an autoimmune disorder that can leave you quite tired. Ive spent a fair amount of time both in chicago and while in monroeville in bed and resting at home. It could be lonely and i have missed having a voice in the room. There had been damaged to the antenna for television there so there wasnt Much Television which kind of broke me up that habit for the most part which was kind of a side benefit i would say of my time there. And i couldnt get npr which i will admit has a good as a good chicago girl i was used to my npr. The reception would fade as she got closer to monroeville. I just wanted as you have heard some people have made that drive would say i just wanted sort of a friendly voice in the room to keep me company and nell harper came up with the perfect three word remedy, Catherine Tucker wyndham. Came over one day and she would always come into my kitchen door and the alabama neighborly fashion and say here, these are for you. They were the first few others many as i could find of Catherine Tucker wyndhams tapes talking about growing up as she did. I think there were some real parallels to the way nell harper corrupt. They were a delight. You can imagine a better choice to have in a room with you especially if you are going to play a tape three times, four times, five times. I always remember her saying that she paused often in her stories and friends asked her why. She realized the explanation might be that her father would posit. I know you were a friend. Perhaps that was a habit she had picked up. She was also somebody that i think nell admired for the way she captured a particular way of life when she was growing up. Since nell was able to do a more or less reasonably good job of that herself, it was a pretty good recommendation. You have given me two great leadins. I cant introduce everybody. We have so many celebrities in the audience but Catherine Tucker wyndhams children are here, sitting over here. [applause] so glad to see them. They have written and after two catharine wyndhams book approaching its 50th anniversary and they Alabama University press has written it. Its a perfect book and i know where you can get a copy. [laughter] that would be the barnes noble down the street. Right, right. No more vodka for you. [laughter] you werent going to tell. My impression briefly was they had such admiration nell and alice for their father and the role he played in their small town. That seemed to be one of the things that was true there too. You gave me another great introduction. Those of you who know and have read two of the greatest books of all time see this being unbroken. I think many of you know that for most of the time she wrote those books, she never left her room. She had Chronic Fatigue syndrome and wrote literally most of those books in her bed. We know that health has been a factor with you both at the time you spend in monroeville and writing this book like Laura Hillenbrand you spend the majority of the time writing this book in bed. I did. Tell us how in the world that was. Well you know i did write most of the book in bed with lupus. Free current west rest is a help so i would work in whatever chunks i could. A lot of times just there in my apartment in chicago in bed and to me it was the power of books to transport you to another ti time, to another place. I remember when i first read t to to kill a mockingbird i was in ninth grade in my hometown of Madison Wisconsin feeling transported sitting in that creaky overheated library. To the streets of me come. There was an element of that in writing the book. Its frustrating particularly as a journalist. One of the things that was appealing to me about journalism was a chance to be out about traveling and meeting people. So it was frustrating when i was having to spend large chunks of time in bed. I have a wonderfully supportive family and friends and my mom, carla mills is here traveling with me. Making all the difference as usual. I had good company in that sense and i still had Catherine Tucker wyndham believed me in the room with me on those tapes. It also was a chance at a time when it was frustrating having to be at home so much. To travel by way of written word, reading it and writing it and of course in the writing of this i was reliving a lot of the experience i had in monroeville and felt quite often that i was sort of as a helper a remarkable woman and her own right who was their helper when i was living next door. I kind of felt like i was resurfacing sometimes in that bedroom at the end of the day after spending time in my imagination and research and buying notes in monroeville. That was true of julia who also generously spent quite a bit of time with me telling me about her life as an africanamerican woman who grew up at the time that she did and was a nurse and midwife for many years and would tell those tales. That spell that she knew how to cast that nell and alice i would say were masters of the art for you almost forget where you are fragmented and resurface and remember. For me it was a way to be out in the world even when i really wasnt. There is a little bit of faith and hope it involves. Such a solitary process that the time will calm when you are sharing those stories with other people. How remarkable it is to be here doing that with you tonight. This was such a gift that they both shared with me. I wanted to just share that gift with all of you, the story said they didnt want to share. As a mention in the book a lot of times to spare the feelings of a friend or relative who was part of the story that they share but not for the book. And yet they were so many i think that they delighted in telling and were ready to share. It was just such a gift they gave me that im so glad to be sharing with all of you now. [applause] thank you, thank you very much. Very thoughtful. A wonderful moment, maybe one of the most wonderful moments of the many wonderful moments that fascinated me was the road trip you and nell took to new jersey. Would you tell us a little bit about that long road trip . What a pleasure. While i was living in monroeville i have a car from thomas lane butts that they used to call an allegedly semiretired minister. He had gone with me to buy a car that he dubbed old blue. All the cars in that area became a nickname so that became old blue. I was going to be driving old blue from monroeville to Princeton Junction new jersey not terribly far from where nell would be returning before long. I was going to visit friends and go on to chicago. She came along as my passenger. She didnt fly and the train which used to go to evergreen alabama and i know some of you are familiar with evergreen no longer went as close. And so we decided, she decided that she would join me on this trip. I decided i needed to be prepared for any contingency. I got water bottles. I got orange traffic cones. I joined aaa and i wondered if i should get a sign to put on my car like the taxis in new york have but this one would say, please drive carefully. National treasure on board. [laughter] didnt want to have to answer to the nation if anything happened on that drive. We actually had, other than me hitting a ride in their driveway before we were two minutes on the road, i think your comment was, im trying to remember exactly. We didnt get off to a good start or something along those lines. We actually ended up having a smooth trip and can you imagine a better person to be drinking more coffee with and talking about the country going by our windows as we drove. I remember thinking all those years she took the train. The country hadnt seen much of harper lee but harper lee had seen a lot of the country. She did like to travel. She took the train to los angeles when i was living in monroeville for a Library Fundraiser that i believe at that point gregory pecks widow was involved in the support of libraries. I was one of the reasons i first got to know them and her friendship with the pax was reason enough to take a train from new york to los angeles and then go from there to eventually make her way to alabama. When nell asked you to talk or when she wanted to talk off the record likes she mentions the towns biggest gossip are other areas that might be extremely sensitive, what was your reaction as a reporter when nell would say this is off the record, dont write that. That was absolutely what i would respect and there may be people here who i think had the privilege of spending time with her and knows she has this gesture with her index finger when she is making a point. When i was spending time with her she would sometimes say thats off the record. Dont include that in the book or would say now you put that in there. Certain stories that she hoped i would share. My feeling was of course that i wanted to respect her wishes and made note of those things but i would say again they were more candid than i might have predicted. I did have a sense that the burden of fame which clearly harper lee and alice lee as well as someone who was involved with her affairs all those years felt personally and didnt feel needed to extend to friends and relatives who havent signed up for that anymore than necessary. A lot of times i think these were stories that were an appreciation of human foible, of the excesses of people and characters in a small town but that they didnt want to be a source of hurt feelings. Those were ones that i didnt share. I knew that. I wanted you to share that with the audience on that subject before we get to these questions. Holy mackeral is is a smart bunch of folks. Im embarrassed. These are much better than mine. Before we dig into these, for that out of the naysayers im going to take personal privilege. There was a witness to one of the dinners that you write about and she is a close friend of nells and a former neighbor for much longer then you are a neighbor. We have had several conversations about you and about your book. She shared with me and i got her permission to mention this, that you are just the smartest person and the greatest sense of humor and you and nell cut up like old, old friends. Judith said i could tell that. Wade judith. There she is. Hello. I havent seen you since that night many years ago. Its so great to see you. I was thinking that one thing about spending time with nell harper and alice is that they are so witty, it kind of raise the game of everybody at the table in the sense that i think you wanted to have good stories to share yourself. There was a lot of laughter at those tables. As i recall there was quite a bit that night. I believe her phrase was i have a yankee for you. There was someone from out of town perhaps north of the masondixon line who was also with us that evening. She was also concerned that most of my friends there were in their 80s and 90s and some in their 70s which are sounding younger and younger to me all the time. But there werent as many young people for me to spend time with. That night was a chance i think to do that as well. That was great fun. Its nice to see you. Thank you for coming judith. My last request for you before we get into these, it would be a daydream for the audience. You mentioned in the book the possibilities of what it would be like to have on our bookshelves if Nell Harper Lee had written a few more books and some of the occasions that you are with her, that it seemed like she ought to have written a book about race, about community, about the minister who murdered for insurance money and i would like for you to touch on that if you would. The evening that you ran across the east asian immigrants and nells thoughts so thats a whole bunch of things for you to cover before we get if get at these if you would. We can start with the first one he can bring me back if i take a side trip or two. They evening i believe you are referring to is a dinner at a Mexican Restaurant in monroeville. Those of you has spent time there now the Dining Options as nell said are somewhat limited. There are some wonderful places but it ends up being a matter of do we go to davids catfish house or bradleys south 40 . We have decided on a lark to try a Mexican Restaurant that was on the outskirts of town. When we were there there were too many people at the restaurant. There was a very long table of people who were of Indian Origin, of the east Indian Origin who nell was so fascinated by. It was generations of this extended family and more i think. They were people primarily who ran motels in that larger area, and some had come more recently. Some have been in that part of the state a long time. She was just so interested in that as a subculture and how did it work and how did those families interact and how did it work when people were starting with nothing that they were able to get a foothold economically and socially. I have very few practical skills i will say. I had a terrible sense of direction. I am not a but i do speak spanish. And so i was an evening when i was able to help with something practical which was she wanted to ask the waitress who was still learning english more about those families. And so there i was asking our waitress from mexico about the families from india and translating for nell who was interested and animated. I think she was always captivated by how how social classes work and how people interact and what changes and what doesnt. Full of questions. Cap apologizing and kept right on asking the waitress more questions about how all that works. I did have a pang that evening that i would love selfishly to read the book that she could write about that part of the experience in that part of alabama or conversely there was a possible Death Penalty case in monroeville after the murder of a physician and his wife. A terribly sad case where their son killed his parents and ended up committing suicide before this became, before it went to trial. It looked like it would be a Death Penalty case. We spent time talking about that issue. There were other occasions where i just couldnt help thinking how much people would later tell what she thought about that. The story she could tell and i felt how much she came to live a lot of times talking about those kinds of things. And about the stories that tell you more about issues than anything else. Although of course that was her decision and only she knew what was the right thing for her to do and why. I have to say there are times i have pictured a small or large but at least some volumes that mightve been written had she chosen to continue publishing after she did. Those were very thoughtprovoking and ive reread the several times. We can all daydream what if. I can remember nell harper telling me not long after i had the very thing, she was talking about being in law school which she attended and said the dry technicalities were her words of law school and of law practice didnt interest her but the human stories did and the drama of the trials. I think thats one reason it was so interesting to know her and Alice Finchley who is atticus in a skirt in that context because alice was a master of detail and of the dry technicalities and certainly at the same appreciation i think for the human stories behind them but also was very patient in dealing with all the methodical aspects of doing that job. We are not going to be able to get to the several hundred that we will go through as many as we can. Just a side trip. Now, i would love this right off the back and i cant wait to hear the answer. I wish i would have thought of this. Someone that didnt sign their name but they said i think a book about alice would be interesting. Would she be open to that and are you interested in pursuing that . Oh my goodness alice is as worthy of his many books as you could read about her. Honestly. When i first went down there people said people who dont know them as sisters dont believe us when they say that miss alice said she is known around town is every bit as remarkable in her own way and original as nell harper and that certainly was my experience as well from the start. I dont know the answer to the specific questions to your specific question whoever had that but i would say just as nell harper had a singular perspective really on what it meant to write the book that she did and then have the response that she did all these years. Alice lee too was in a similar position in a lot of ways and really was keeper of the family history. One of the things we wanted to do was preserve as many of those stories as she was able to share and that she had time to share. I was gender in the beginning about the question of a lot of their friends were pleased that she was willing to record a lot of the family stories that probably would go with her when she died if she didnt. She just had a memory and now is 102. She practiced law until she was 100, that nobody else had. There was a sense of urgency not only on her part but on that of the other people who they encouraged to speak with me. But they were much more matteroffact about it. Alice used to say to me, they gave me a sign regularly assignments regularly. One of them was to visit a lot of churches in the area, to visit white churches in black churches and that the dissent pentecostal in the breakaway burst out all of those that developed over time and other denominations. They also wanted me to speak with some of the people who had known their family who maybe were a little less prone to embellishment shall we say that some of the people who shared stories publicly about the lee family over the years. So alice would say i wanted to talk to soandso. To that early on while he still has his marbles. Just matteroffact. [laughter] and nells is a wonderful photo of her that is the lead photograph with a newspaper story where you see a certain intensity in her eyes. And i had that same gaze saying you talked to soandso while they are still above ground. The chance to preserve those stories i think was one of the most meaningful parts of this for me. This is a tough question and i cant wait to hear your answer. You may give it up. The question is, if you had to describe harper lee in just one word what would it be . Oh my goodness. It was always something original. I wasnt quite sure what she was having teased today. Ive made it quite fun. Okay, this next question is you won a Pulitzer Prize in journalism and of course ms. Lee kuan the literary. Are there any tree you believe last winter share . Guest a while, would make the very large distinction that of course she won the Pulitzer Prize for that beautiful novel. I was part of a large team of importers over in a series called gateway to claire doc about or hear airport. And you know, this is very much a team effort. And so i would make that distinction. I was one of many. A fascinating project to work on. I think, others as men include any woman that described in the Book Companies and who was one a Pulitzer Prize, you know, there is a feeling of doing something that mattered to you that have not been to do with simply the need to make a living, although certainly that is always week iteration in any profession. But a sense of purpose that i think the key of meaning to the lives of the people i know who it does not work into their projects, and sent to the being about something more. And i will just mention briefly, a friend of mine for the Chicago Tribune named julia keller won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for a series that was really about the randomness of this date. And it recreated a tornado to buy three small town in illinois and the randomness empire is that this was one of those tornadoes we know too well in the midwest where theres very little warning and in this town, the people who somewhat randomly turned right on one side of a mans street and went into a tavern on one side survived. Those who have been to turn my skin went into the other didnt. Just seems so random. Sir very beautifully recreated what it was like to be in that town when that happened, but no of people came to terms with that part of addicts. And she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 and that was one of his living in at that time. I was in chicago for some doc or his appointments, see my rheumatologist. The one that was announced, i believe that within the world. I was there and we had a party for her at my apartment. I was not too far still from the Chicago Tribune. The story i told about ordering a key to celebrate this evening that i have better ordered a cake and delivered it to my door. I know that was the concept in a told me they would do that. Her name is julia keller, that she would always get julie some time. And so, i told the person i was recounting this when i return to monroeville not long after they set yet another Kitchen Table ,com,com ma although this was that of a friend. I told the people on top of the cake that i would like it to say congratulations, julia, Pulitzer Prize 2005. But i said, not julia sometimes its too late. Could you please be sure you spell it within a period i dont mean to be a pain in the neck, but could you read about it. And this woman had a heavy accent and i want to be sure he was understanding me better than i was able to understand him during that conversation on the phone. He said what an honor, that is marvelous. Julia, we have it. No worries. Well, right before a bunch of people from the Chicago Tribune were coming over to celebrate, that cake was delivered. And as i my heart sank because it didnt say congratulations, julia. But then i said pull it server prize 2005. [laughter] which is course is something we still call her all these years later so i think it inappropriate name. But that story at the home of another mutual friend. But also, you know, one of the things i was acted about both of them that they were talking about their experience was, you know, the real respect i suppose to simply celebrity for its own sake. The pulitzer was meaningful naturally for her and sent tenet clearly was about achievement and not about fame and also something their father live to be a race he and i know that gave it an extra level of meaning as well. He died, unfortunately before the movie came out, that list is a bad and now is unseen but all those years later there is a little spark of pride in that achievement when we spoke about it and when i told her about my friend the Pulitzer Prize. Either somebody is we need to create a poet surprise that would be worthy. This is one, i dont know if you need it there, but are you planning i choose to say no comment. Youll answer this. Are you planning to attend your College Reunion next year . My goodness, is very george town person in this audience . Hello. I graduated. The short answer is yes, i would love to you. I miss the last time because i was in monroeville dealing with some lupus problems, so i heard about it from a friend by phone and would love to you. I also add that although my older friends in monroeville roll their eyes at the fact they know what like to be getting older. I am sick do one now. My classmate is a freshman at georgetown was Patrick Ewing, who of course manon. Imagine when i was still feeling pretty young, listening to the commentators who would say they are cause for Patrick Ewing hobbling on those. He is an old man now. We were the class of 85 comments so i would love to return. Okay, well hopefully that answers this question. We discussed this earlier in the afternoon. Tell us some tales. He didnt tell in the book. Nakedness. Did you have one particular . Now, all of these are from these folks out here. Boy, that was one of the painful things. I try to select the stories that were typical of my experience ever in that category of pull up a chair and listen to their stories. One of the ones i touched on in the book but didnt write as much of that as i wouldve liked to was this aunt alice did i mention like her early and Alice Finchley had a playful and some language that was such fun and i think was part of the way of looking at the world really. And so, go ahead and alice is on the way i came to think of it that they would or not every now and then. One of my favorite was the term saloon, which having been through some of the weather thayer, having a bit of weather today was another expression arena are when the trees were ready to put down. So when was one of the terms she had created for whether that was a cross between a cyclone and a typhoon. And i think there was some enemies meant on both the sisters part that she had gotten a digital clock i think was also familiar with heart indication, perhaps i never could quite get it straight that this was not a palace clock telling the time. They have such affection for her and for some of the other relatives that we talk about. Mr. Nash every now and then. Harper with they been driving like ms. Nash. Mr. Nash was made a belief to their kitty, who herself refers to him as mr. Nash, a bit of a more formal generation. Mr. Nash would save money by driving rather slowly and conserving gas. So someone coming certain harpers top was driving a little bit lowly that they they were driving like ms. Nash. I dont have a car in chicago. If i am home and was on same driving a car someplace and goes lowly i think tonight though im driving like mr. Nash. It takes a name that he would be familiar with this, but maybe not most. Whenever i hear that the back of him sitting in her mouth for exam will have a daughter, the tory backroom and their star have a little girl named harper were robbed of many other children, celebrities are not better named harper were. I think of how that name came to be and it is otherwise forgot the pediatrician who was able to come up with a formula that has a baby she was unable to digest formula and the pediatrician finally a bit aids around further doubt theres ever desperately worried that as an infant with survived if you couldnt begin adjusting arm a lot. They came across a pediatrician by the name of dr. William harper and tenures later, lou weasley was 10 years older than harper. When Nell Harper Lee came in their old house on alabama avenue. A name must be a vampire, the pediatrician who i am sure could not imagine would know that his name was in the streets of london and all kinds of places that he couldnt imagine being a part of. There is another nugget reading the book that is one i dont know. We will take a couple more in the old clock on the wall is ticking. Did either of two or alice address the Truman Capote issues concerning the possibility that he wrote to kill a mockingbird. Yes, just a wee bit. And i think that wonderful video that i just talked to the first time. What a treasure. I thought shes so captured harper in a palace in a couple of those stories that i spent all that time might. Im sorry. Im on a mental sidetrip year. About mel or alice in Truman Capote what did i think i was the biggest lie ever told. And a source of consternation mentioned in those comments. I cannot be hurt if put to that. There might be some question as to how much nell harper is listed anyway for ankle blood went to kill a mockingbird was still at the publisher, hadnt yet come out, although she had finished it. Those who know about the his jury, she went to kansas and helped him research these murderers that have taken place in it farmhouse there. I do know how helpful it was to him to have someone who could so easily put people at ease and not small town. He was such a carrier air and it was helpful to him to have some fun of people felt they knew after not talking to her for all that long and really was quite a help in their searching of in cold blood. She also told me it differently than at that point in my career there was some sensors may be floundering a bit. I know this is a good serious project that he could pursue and she wanted to be of help to him and i think certainly was and shared as well that assignation for criminal justice for the story of a crime like that and none would have been as morris found out about the crime and in cold blood really became i think one of the early examples of what he called a nonfiction novel of a narrative that he was attempting. Am a novelist that fashion. The idea was sticking to what they have learned in their research about what truly had happened. Thank you. This might take the rest of the evening. What things did you sign spired Harper Lee Kwak teaching an appreciation for how hard people work, especially if someone in the depression and of course in such an iconic way in to kill a mockingbird was i was in press whatever somebody start out, whatever their family has jury with people who have the perseverance to work hard. A lot of times for not very much a, provide for families. It was it error value is in their fathers talk about the ec is not vote, that you see in the way they lived. And now as the ones actually i think was most striking in the congress nations within. Their appreciation of how hard it was for a lot of families not only in the depression, but at the time i was living in roseville and their respect for the people who found a way if they had the opportunity to provide for a family and to persevere over time. And i think an appreciation that although like a lot of families are certainly new hardship and people who live so close to the margin to how much a family can get by in a year and an appreciation of how many people manage to do that in such difficult or comes and says and perhaps unfeeling discussed with me in their own ways, but there is a commonality of can learn that may be what a lot of us now what can better what you need to get by is inflated. The necessities theres a difference difference between need and want and it may be a problem of an affluent technologically advanced country that wants them begin to seem like me and not put pressures on all that maybe dont have to have. Well, as we are just about to run out of time before we have this little piece of Business Growth this little book here, do you have any parting remarks for these folks here in alabama were the ones that have come from ken city in florida and we peer well, on a lighter note, all i will say a mantra of being able to live theater impact on trend intact, i did write a book in washington a few days ago, but it was only because [laughter] let me add if i see any origin blew out there. It was only because of very nice gentleman who had written that looked at me and said, this is a gift and i did have to mention to him that good friends of bill leaves in monroeville have a sensuous and honorary brother. His eyes introduced me as sister. Hes a man in his 40s who has Downs Syndrome any of the special friendship. He was someone who didnt want anything from other than her friendship and playful sense of fun, she definitely had and his name is kenny croft and he is a hand, so he wont mind me mentioning his name. Kenny croft might be the world truly, no hyperbole biggest auburn fan. He has a collection of memorabilia that people have brought to her ivory tshirt, mug, and satoru is known to man a secret history that has auburn ornaments. Over the line. [applause] just about even steven. Well, on behalf before we have a drawing, most of the idea zeneca and. We appreciate you take time out to come to birmingham, alabama. Many of us did not have a deep notion about Nell Harper Lee. He did it in a thoughtful manner, a respectful manner. I feel much better having read it in thank you for your gift to the literary world. Thank you to the press. Refer we thank all of you for coming, somebody is really going to be happy. Before she draws the name and before everybody is not because she didnt call yours, lets tell the young lady how much we appreciate her. Thank you. Caught back thank you so much. Thank you. [applause] at the georgetown person wins. They are strict libere seat numbers. I will not look and i will pull from the middle. Okay. Well first, read the road. Already. We will do with this was some drama appropriate to the theater. The row that has the winner is quite the row is jay. Albright. Seat number . Feedback are you ready . All rights. Row jay, seat 26. Yea. [applause] this is for you, row j, seat 26. And your name is quite pm. Thanks, pam. Enjoy. [cheers and applause] in the earth as soon as we see them talking. Thank you so much for coming. We appreciate it. We are going to get her back for that second vote. Thank you so much, everybody. Its been a pleasure. [applause] [inaudible conversations]