TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- "To Kill a Mockingbird" author Harper Lee is among the inaugural inductees for the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame.

Harper Lee
FILE - This March 14, 1963 file photo shows Harper Lee, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "To kill a Mockingbird." (AP Photo, File)
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The 89-year-old Lee and 11 other writers are being honored as the hall's first class Monday night in Tuscaloosa.

The honor comes weeks before the release of Lee's second book, "Go Set a Watchman." It was finished before the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Mockingbird" but takes place 20 years later. "Watchman" again features Atticus Finch, Scout, and others from her first beloved novel about racial injustice in the Deep South. Lee's agreement to release the book stunned the literary world.

It was unclear whether Lee would attend Monday.

The inductees who are still living are Lee, author Rick Bragg, poets Sonia Sanchez and Andrew Glaze, and novelist Sena Jeter Naslund.

Posthumous inductees include Helen Keller and William March.

 

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