NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - Harper Lee, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' has died in her hometown of Monroeville, Ala., reports AL.com.
She was 89. The cause of death has not yet been announced.
"The world knows Harper Lee was a brilliant writer but what many don't know is that she was an extraordinary woman of great joyfulness, humility and kindness. She lived her life the way she wanted to -- in private -- surrounded by books and the people who loved her," Michael Morrison, head of HarperCollins U.S. general books group said in the statement.
More than 40 million copies have been sold.
The literary giant was a notorious recluse.
In July 2015, HarperCollins released 'Go Set a Watchman,' the only book other than 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' that Lee had written. It was published 55 years later.
Lee did not give any interviews following the release of the highly anticipated novel which is set in the south in the 1950s during the Civil Rights Movement.
'To Kill A Mockingbird' tells the story of Atticus Finch, a lawyer and a father, who defends a black man, Tom Robinson, who is accused of raping a poor white girl, Mayella Ewell.
The story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s.
The setting and several of the characters are drawn from life - Finch was the maiden name of Lee's mother and the character of Dill was drawn from Capote, Lee's childhood friend.
Lee was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 for 'To Kill a Mockingbird.'
She suffered a stroke in 2007 and had been living at a nursing home.