Harper Lee's Only Recorded Interview About 'To Kill A Mockingbird' [AUDIO]

[@brandoncaldwell2567]

My great grandmother went to school with Harper and they stayed friends for years. My mother still has a signed copy of To Kill a Mockingbird that she was given as a birthday present.

[@mosart7025]

That is so cool!!

[@Miley.Lynette.]

Wow I was searching her up because I have a program and my speaking part is Harper Lee!

[@drubb3d]

🧢

[@colinrunciman5166]

Oh,buetfull!! rgdsColin Runciman Scotland

[@wanderinggeri8477]

@@Miley.Lynette.How did it go?

[@paulpinargote5199]

It's amazing she has one of the most famous books ever and she completely stayed away from the media for 50 years! R.I.P

[@jillbohaty4400]

Paul Pinargote Da

[@fairlind]

Paul Pinargote Not amazing to me. I can't imagine anything worse than the loss of privacy that comes with fame.

[@johnchambers2996]

J. D. Salinger just brought a farm and he and his wife never looked back.

[@activeone]

@@johnchambers2996 well that's a lie.

[@johnchambers2996]

@@activeone How so? That's what I read when he died.

[@Flufferz626]

I had the pleasure of meeting this woman face to face. I will never forget it.

[@laramaui4114]

Flufferz626 undrer what circumstances?

[@Flufferz626]

Lala Maui an essay contest in Alabama public schools for girl high schoolers interested in writing. It was an awesome opportunity!

[@valeriafernandez8392]

@@Flufferz626 Really? you're so lucky

[@308W82]

Wow! That's incredible! Only a handful of people ever get to meet a legendary artist! I'm sure you'll treasure the experience...forever!

[@roryridge4242]

@@laramaui4114 great question. Fluffer , do tell us about it.

[@brandinunes6334]

I will never regret naming my child after Harper Lee. I hope my daughter grows up to love her as much as I do.

[@chumlankithan1545]

She speaks so steady. I'm so privileged and honored to hear her voice. Thank you.

[@CatsHateSoup]

Chumlan Kithan1 Same, I wouldn’t care if she were reading the instructions on a ramen packet, I just wanted to hear her voice.

[@zsedcftglkjh]

Get a grip.

[@JustSomeCanadianGuy]

My English teacher said she went to visit Monroeville, Alabama one day and she visited the post office and as she was leaving she saw this sweet old lady and she did a double take... and it was Harper Lee! And they talked for a bit and she said she was amazing!

[@فضاءات-ر9ظ]

10:31

[@kirsteni.russell5903]

It's wonderful to hear this writer speak. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is a great book, and this interview sheds light on the author who wrote it.

[@pmacc3557]

Yes Kirsten. Im reading it again at the moment. Its a classic

[@kurtsiecolferites2160]

RIP, Harper Lee. Thank you for giving us such a powerful and important story. Both the book and the movie are incredibly moving. I remember reading the book in the office in school and just breaking down and crying when Tom Robinson was murdered. It was so unfair. So, so unfair.

[@radawson1018]

💚her description of Southern childhood back when imagination reigned supreme. In our 21st century world, so homogenized by television, with access to everything via the internet, imagination is far less needed. Plus, HL did not need the spotlight, a choice not understood by our media-hungry environment. Many thanks to the station that posted this rare gift.💙

[@roryridge4242]

When I kick the kids off their devices, hours later they can be found outside with elaborate imagination going on... Kids today still have the power! They just need to be given the opportunity, or a little nudge every now and then.

[@Ziegler-boothBlogspot]

Thank you for sharing this fascinating interview with Harper Lee on KZbin.

[@roryridge4242]

An amazing find!

[@buttheclouds]

Such a needed book! And so comprehensible! No symbolism, no multiple narrators, no difficult vocabulary, a happy ending, the development of innocence to adulthood, absolutely everything you would want in a novel. Take that, so -called American classics like Moby-Dick!

[@Surfing_Pikachu]

try telling an English teacher that there's no symbolism XD

[@mattscholp4]

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this ♥

[@paulsolon6229]

Her face her resembles the face of scout in the movie. Once she said that scout is her as a kid

[@lolotaeja3911]

Astonishingly exceptional piece of work by any standard. Produced by a brilliant, reclusive, ordinary person disinterested in fame. An American classic of the highest order.

[@catkeys6911]

She was very private, she wasn't reclusive. She loved hanging out with friends, and going on fishing excursions. When in NY, she'd go to ball games (a Mets fan) and visit museums.

[@kublitokhan1564]

A beautifully written piece of literature displaying this woman’s rich and powerful imagination.

[@gooodies4u1]

Thus was not imagination. This was life in the south

[@exluvah]

I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to hear this.

[@bamalifecooperative5969]

I live in Monroe County Alabama we're miss lee was from! My mother knew her well as miss lee would come by my mother's workplace and visit her as miss lee was doing her laundry!

[@kennethprice8710]

This is a great and revealing interview listening to her speak about small southern town life is very educational.🌟

[@308W82]

This is one of the finest youtube clips I've ever seen! Every single word, phrase and sentence Harper Lee utters is pure poetry. A master story teller, we've been gifted with one masterpiece for the ages, and now this interview -- a brief, poetic glimpse into the mind of one of the world's finest artists, who's work will endure forever.

[@diecastcupseries7317]

Harper Lee actually assisted Truman Capote in doing interviews with residents and law enforcement officers in Kansas who were involved in searching for criminals Perry Smith and Richard Hickock who were executed by hanging for the 1959 murders of the Clutter Family in Holcomb, Kansas for his book "In Cold Blood". They made a movie later on based on the book like they did wit Harper's book "To kill a Mockingbird".

[@SarasAnimals]

I love listening to her the way I loved listening to Shelby Foote and his commentary in Ken Burns’ Civil War. A rich, musical accent that conveys so much about life in the southern states.

[@lynnbertron1621]

I so agree 💯.

[@LB-pg3no]

Wonderfully written book, such a very talented writer! Her speaking style is as interesting as her writings! What a wonderful and intelligent lady! I wish she would have written many more novels, she was so very talented! My favorite book and movie!!!

[@Abrahamq123]

Thank you for having this interview available to us!

[@pattykemper2010]

Excellent description about growing up in the south and why it produced such good storytellers. I grew up in a small southern town and remember and heard many stories from our elders. They were wonderful to listen to.

[@reikaratnam]

Meh

[@xsrclose3207]

Southerners entertain ourselves by talking and telling stories.... so true! The theater was not available in Southern cultures... They were the most connected to nature and imagination 💞

[@annarodriguez9868]

I love how she explained how the people of the south are storytellers. I'm originally from El Paso, Texas and I remember listening to the adults talking about things past. If they spoke about family members or neighbors it wasn't gossip, but out of concern for them. Now I'm almost 74 and I'm the storyteller and the keeper of the flame.

[@bewareofchild2462]

Thank you ma'am for that book.

[@GTSConsulting]

The fact that we can hear her voice before seeing the Broadway production simply brings the story to life! Thank you!

[@fosterhellendoorn4656]

Loved her command of the english language. Also the information of ethnicity of southern states.

[@JS-ti8ny]

Shelby Foote is another one

[@stockvaluedotcom]

The best and most brilliant explanation why Southern writers dominate the greatest American Literature.

[@arrowcrusher]

Her voice is Angelic.... She is my spiritual family... she also made a mediocre interviewer feel so comfortable and inflated his ego.. I bet Roy never had another interview even close to this one.. Harper Lee was and still is an Angel and her spirit has never died

[@stockvaluedotcom]

In fairness he gave her space to tell the story instead of interrupting as so many modern interviewers do. That she was so evocative of why Southern writers dominate American literature tells me he couldn't have been too bad.

[@powfoot4946]

I love where she says "southern folk are not particularly sophisticated, not worldly wise". It makes me think of Atticus finch, someone who is widely considered one of the greatest, noblest characters in fiction. Nothing he says or does is particularly wise, he just sticks to his core values and does good. It is within all of us to become a man like Atticus.

[@madeleinebelle2105]

She fired my senses and childhood memories of Nature and imagination...never heard anyone talk of the South in such a way...she seemed a very down to earth woman...ty.

[@pnkjthakuri2010]

man the accents so cool harpers lee my legend and my boss

[@MrSteve280]

She has a natural gift of story telling when she's simply talking. Reminds me much of Shelby Foote.

[@lynnbertron1621]

Couldn't put my finger on who she reminded of, your so right. It's Shelby Foote.

[@amanmehta2303]

The fact that I am a contemporary of Harper Lee being only 20 years old makes me happy.

[@ninabernel5383]

Still my favorite book.

[@amirajamil8113]

I had a first copy. My sister had to read it in high school and passed it on to me. Unfortunate for me I read it to tatters but I have both her books now. Growing up in small town I can relate.

[@monsterjazzlicks]

This is the first time I have learned anything of her. It was such a fascinating 10 x minutes!

[@flanplan5903]

I could imagine an adult Scout speaking like this...

[@NotHalfBadNomad]

How amazing to have this audio clip after all this time! I find it interesting that she directly references Capote’s “the grass harp“ by imagining living in a treehouse in the branches of a Chinaberry tree.

[@paulsolon6229]

Insightful Thank you

[@paolomisul]

Questa donna 60 anni fa, mi ha cambiato la vita...grazie

[@peggylamb552]

my fav movie !!

[@delg1211]

To KM is one of the few movies that reaches the book

[@mustangbeauty4]

It's surprising that this amazing and emotional book is now being shown in most American schools. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I think it's a great thing. Thank you, R.I.P.

[@helgemrklid404]

oh, that sweet Southern accent

[@metamorphosis828]

My all time favorite book

[@danocable]

Alongside the Grapes of Wrath,One of the all time greats.

[@rhondaroberts7999]

Daniel Oconnell i agree my top two movies 😊

[@jameshammons2354]

Such insight

[@arrowcrusher]

I'm so blessed to know that this exist

[@cherylbean5881]

Amazing book

[@RobbieBlue]

Very intelligent woman!

[@ladyoftheveil8342]

I have two books in me hopefully cousin Nell will inspire me . I Grew up in rural south Alabama in the 70’s

[@izacnewton5761]

what a treasure!

[@dougmoore50]

All of the things that influenced Nellie Harper Lee's writing, all of them; The first time she intentionally studied her mirror reflection; The inescapable influence of family; The small town dusty streets she walked in childhood; The newspapers she read; The stories she heard from adults and kids; The things that caused her to hide under her blankets in the middle of the night; The crackling am radio broadcasts she persistently sought out; The first time she was able to work past the discomfort of oppressive heat and humidity and to revel in both; The first time she noticed the simple yet indomitable beauty of a flower, The first time she comprehended both the real and imagined ugliness of some human behaviors; The imagination of her own young mind stimulated by the natural world, rather than by technology. The first time she observed that a gnarled cavity in an old tree trunk could be used as a hiding place for small treasures; The stealthy gratitude in finding them and later on the greater satisfaction of gifting treasures; Her childhood pals, whose ultimate value would not be fully embraced until she understood the harsh realities of fleeting time; The encouraging whispers of her first editor and author friends; Every single word she had written until then; All of them converged in the beauty of her first published work, the treasure of "To Kill A Mockingbird". Brilliantly written in 1960, (Pulitzer Prize in '61) It was the perfect novel at a perfect time. It helped to assert for the first time in some and reassert in others a fundamental goodness, that by the very nature of how it made us feel, we knew it to be satisfying, grounding and right. It was, and remains, in my humble opinion, a crucial voice in the necessary development of our species and in the individual and collective bonds we forge.

[@missdee4927]

I read she did so much press to promote the book that it turned her off giving interviews completely. Another reason KZbin is amazing. I get to hear this reclusive writer who stayed far away from the press for 50 years.

[@brucefranklin1317]

Miss lee was a deep beautiful southern woman the men need to learn from her.

[@blessOTMA]

"So many writers don't like to write" 😂 True!

[@Orfeo68]

This is awesome!!

[@nandixon1247]

I loved the book and the movid. I lived just north of Monroeville.,in a small town of Beatrice. This was in1971 through 1973. Racism was very strong in that area. I was from Mobile originally.

[@nonebusiness6583]

She certainly describes Southerners and growing up Southern to a tee.

[@robinrubendunst869]

She was born to write this book and to live her life for herself. And that's enough. I don't know why she never published anything ever again (until Go Set a Watchman, but that was after her death).

[@jeanettecollins694]

A professor at SMU teaches this novel in his classes. He said most ppl believe Watchman came after Mockingbird, but this is untrue. He declared the Watchman was a terrible novel and Harper Lee took some of the elements from Watchman then wrote Mockingbird.

[@bjnwright]

Amazing she thought it would never sell. She was just hoping to get some encouragement.

[@colettanicholsonnicholson1533]

I love the old South. She made my heart understand why .

[@studywithnyushella4184]

The best writer

[@ElPisstoffo]

I'm here on 8/20/24, wishing Harper Lee still was.

[@victoria_atmosphere9290]

I guess Harper Lee was Scout but she in some way she was, or became Boo Radley as well.

[@LeninChampionedUkraine]

Wow, I’m listening to this on a very very quick food break from writing.

[@hatnanjo]

HAD TO DO THIS FOR HOMEWORK #YEAR9

[@sleeplessbread1872]

Sameeeee

[@saaimnaqvi8106]

Haha same lol

[@littlered-hm9hs]

She's so cute!!!!!

[@EsotericOccultist]

She sounds cool

[@TheJudgeIsDancing]

Thanks to Harper Lee and Gregory Pecks portrayal, I named my son Henry Atticus

[@jazzstandardman]

"All I want to be is a Jane Austen of South Alabama."

[@atoriyan9254]

Continued success

[@alexy6686]

I noticed when reading the book there were many mentions of tribal tendencies, calling families tribes or groups...well she speaks about Southerners as a tribe at 5:10. Just a little interesting thing I noticed.

[@jamesschmitz6644]

She lived like a regular person .

[@MohammadAhmad-fi3pt]

I was really fond once of describing myself as taciturn having read it in her book

[@kublitokhan1564]

Anyone draw parallels between Harper Lee and the reclusive Boo ?

[@roryridge4242]

Yes!

[@dietz4052]

Kublito Khan Nelle told someone later in her life that she identified herself with Boo.

[@lisatraiger2562]

Yes! just tonight I finished reading the book again - my favorite by a long shot-and at the end during the porch scene while atticus and tate are arguing, it occurred to me that in addition to Scout being somewhat autobiographical, Boo R and his extreme shyness also mirror Miss Lee's preference for privacy.

[@meganmackenzie5993]

Late to the party, but there's a BBC documentary about TKaM where a neighbor tells about a man in their town who was a shut-in like Arthur "Boo" Radley, who was likely Lee's inspiration.

[@larrymasterspowerbuildingc4477]

where was the discussion about the book?

[@theesperanzacompromisebyja9044]

Harper Lee AKA Truman Capote's bodyguard.

[@derickblacido2267]

This is a good interview. but common. He did not ask about the novel. Actually, there was a set of question about it. How she was inspired, and if that book was his autobiography indirectly and so on. Oh, my god¡. He lost a good opportunity at asking her. A great deception.

[@ThomasOAkden]

Derick Blacido Contreras true, but sometimes these things have value just in that you can meet the person beyond their accomplishments or success. It’s maybe more of a credit to the interviewer that they instead kept away from the cliches she was probably asked all her life.

[@Deborah4Antiques]

@@ThomasOAkden I think he let her express herself which is her, what I tuned in to hear.

[@lostindiancamp]

I wonder if she stayed away from interviews in order to not have questions about her sexuality? It was known she was gay and had a relationship with her editor. Her being gay is one reason she and Truman Capote were so close.

[@kenhill3618]

being gay then and denying or being scraed of discrimination would also explain her deep empathy

[@iVenge]

It would be more accurate to say that she was asexual.

[@missdee4927]

It was known? The only thing I've read about her love life was she had an unrequited crush on her male literary agent. I think she just lived her life with no romantic relationships.

[@robinrubendunst869]

"small town, middle-class Southern life . . . is passing."

[@crazyaces4042]

in the TV mini series "in cold blood" I now see that it was shown as if Capote and her were good friends and that she laughed a LOT. I always wondered if that was fake as it didn't seem exactly real or fitting. Philip Seymour Hoffman did a GREAT job acting in that movie whether you like(d) Capote or not. I can't even believe it was him in the movie. It is a tough watch considering what happened to that poor family and who ever all the horrible men's other crimes affected. I was just watching it and started wondering about Harper's book. I did see the movie but it was sort of hard to understand. Gregory Peck did and outstanding job in acting. Either way it sounds like she definitely didn't really enjoy being "famous." Very talented writer especially for her time.

[@Nitro_Joe]

This is an interesting interview; however, it felt like it took 30 minutes to get less than 10 minutes of information. This interview give a new meaning to SLOW!

[@CatsHateSoup]

What book was she working on if she had already written Go Set A Watchman?

[@valeriafernandez8392]

Yep, i think so

[@iVenge]

It is doubtful that she ever wrote that book.

[@kelman727]

...which was an early draft for Mockingbird. The book she is talking about was non-fiction, which she eventually shelved.

[@kylek65]

R.I.P my social life because doing this for school.

[@jazzstandardman]

What does your social life consist of?

[@cjourneys5785]

👌

[@TheGreatAlan75]

Harper Lee was my mother. RIP mom. you were the greatest of the great.

[@St_-qb3pw]

Alan Lloyd bare bullshit

[@alliyah7386]

she didn't have children lmao

[@jordynsimmons1107]

Bs

[@Simplydhiva]

New friend here stay connected

[@casperroyall745]

i once had diarrhea in my moms ikea

[@ladyoftheveil8342]

My distant cousin Nell

[@billk7541]

Sadly, the South that Ms. Harper describes is almost long gone. Of course, there are pockets here and there, but for the most part the South is like any other place in the U.S.A.

[@SJam491]

The South didn't get its first major league baseball team until 1966.

[@mavvd1301]

Spécialité LLCE tu connais

[@sibam_debnath]

Today i buy a book "to kill a mockingbird" that reason i do comment section.

[@letolethe3344]

Lee trying to claim she had a poor upbringing is ridiculous. She was part of a fairly well-to-do, quite eccentric family that did not have any real money troubles of any kind.

[@thibaultl1956]

It's sad that such a skilled author would attribute so much of her success to "tribal instincts."

[@mosart7025]

But if she meant southerners as a group told stories and performed drama, and she absorbed that cultural bent (to say nothing of the Celtic storytelling history), why is that sad, and not just true?

[@lea1733]

5:18 5:18 5:18 5:18 5:18 5:18 5:18 5:18 5:18 5:18 5:18 5:18 5:18

[@riarjakuchprsenior2739]

I seriously used to think Harper Lee was a man or the owner of Harper Collins....XD Peace!

[@tayyabakhan2257]

its an amazing book. no doubt. remarkable peice of literature

[@Exxot1K]

lol

[@ethanxie]

Yo les bg