Harper Lee Agrees to Ebook Version of To Kill a Mockingbird

Posted on April 28, 2014

Harper Lee is 88 today and has marked the occasion by allowing HarperCollins to publish her classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird in both an ebook and digital audiobook form. She has previously refused to allow the book to be sold as an ebook. In a statement today Ms. Lee explained, "I'm still old-fashioned. I love dusty old books and libraries. This is Mockingbird for a new generation."

The book won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and has sold more than 30 million copies in English worldwide. It has been translated int more than 40 languages and still sells more than one million copies each year. It was first published in 1960 by J. B. Lippincott and Co., which was later acquired by the company that is now HarperCollins Publishers. HarperCollisn will release the book as a text ebook, an ebook with additional, exclusive content and in a digital audio version read by Oscar winning actress Sissy Spacek (Coal Miner's Daughter, Carrie). The new versions will hit bookstores on July 8, 2014, which is the 54th anniversary of the book's original publication.

Michael Morrison, President and Publisher of HarperCollins U.S. General Books Group and Canada, had this to say about the acquisition: "Every home has a dog-eared copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, and now readers will be able to add this favorite book to their digital libraries. Although today is Nelle Harper Lee's birthday, she is giving readers around the world the gift of being able to read or listen to this extraordinary story in all formats."

We are quite happy that Ms. Lee has agreed to make her novel available in digital format. Clearly she wanted to reach a generation of younger readers. But for those who already have a hard copy of the book, it is nice to have it available on one's digital reader as well.