A quick thread on how a simple Christmas gift can change someone's life (and the literary world)...
In the early 1950s, Harper Lee moved to New York City at the encouragement of her friend Truman Capote. She actually moved in with Truman's good friends Broadway lyricist Michael Brown and his ballet dancer wife Joy Williams.
To earn money, Harper took a job as an airline reservation receptionist. A job she not only despised, but also left her so exhausted and beat down after work that she never had time to write.
On Christmas morning in 1956, Harper found a small envelope under the tree with her name on it. Inside the envelop there was a note from Michael Brown and Joy Williams that said: "You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas."
With her new found freedom and confidence, Harper began writing a collection of short stories about racism in her hometown of Monroeville. he spent two and a half years crafting what would eventually become "To Kill A Mockingbird".
Once the book was finished, her editors at J.B. Lippincott warned Harper that TKAM probably wouldn't sell more than "a few thousand copies".
"To Kill A Mockingbird" was published on July 11, 1960 under the original title "Atticus". It was an instant success. Within a year, TKAM had been translated into 10 languages and the 35 year old first time author had won numerous literary awards including the Pulitzer Prize.
To date, "Mockingbird" has sold 40 million copies worldwide. It still sells 1m ever year.
According to a 2009 lawsuit against her former book agent, Harper earned between $3 and $4 million per year in royalties from that one book. Around $10,000 every day.
Harper died in 2016. According to US Copyright law, her heirs will continue earning those royalties until 2086. Her assets were sealed in a trust so no one knows who her heirs actually are.
Despite being worth tens of millions, Harper most of her life in a modest brick home in Monroeville. She was not a recluse as some think. She could be seen around town shopping at the Dollar Store, washing her own clothes at a laundromat and drinking coffee at McDonald's.
One of her final major public appearances took place in 2007 when George W. Bush awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A nice cap to a life that would have been drastically different without that simple gift on Christmas in 1956.
