To Kill A Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee. When she sent the untitled manuscript to an editor in New York City in 1957, it was only a collection of short stories. It was messy, with loose plot lines and other mistakes. She was given three years to revise it. Each submission was better, but, says Tayhohoff, her editor, it just was not right. On July 11, 1960, her novel was released, now titled To Kill A Mockingbird.
In its first year of release, it sold over two and a half million copies and was printed 14 times. A little less than a year after its release, Mockingbird was presented the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
At its two-year anniversary, the story had sold more then 5 million copies and had been on the best seller list for one hundred weeks.
Harper Lee says her story is simply a love story, but over the years and it numerous re-prints, it has become an American Classic.
