Harper Lee has signed on for Scout, Boo Radley and Atticus Finch to enter the electronic age.
Filling one of the biggest gaps in the e-library, To Kill a Mockingbird will become available as an e-book and digital audiobook on July 8, HarperCollins Publishers announced on Monday. Ms Lee, in a rare public statement, cited a “new generation” of fans in agreeing to the downloadable editions of her Pulitzer Prize-winning classic.
“I’m still old-fashioned. I love dusty old books and libraries,” Ms Lee, who turned 88 on Monday, said through her publisher. “I am amazed and humbled that ‘Mockingbird’ has survived this long. This is ‘Mockingbird’ for a new generation.”
First published in July 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and still sells more than 1 million copies a year, according to HarperCollins. It was adapted into a 1962 movie of the same name that featured an Oscar-winning performance by Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, the courageous Alabama attorney who defends a black man against charges that he raped a white woman.
The new audiobook will be a downloadable edition of the existing CD narrated by Sissy Spacek. Harper also is releasing an “enhanced” e-book that will feature additional material. Spokeswoman Tina Andreadis said. The extra features had not yet been determined.
