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Best-selling author Cassandra King Named 2025 Harper Lee Award Recipient
Monroeville, Ala. – The Monroeville Literary Festival will present the 2025 Harper Lee Award to best-selling novelist and Alabama native Cassandra King at the Old Courthouse Museum in Monroeville on Feb. 28, 2025. The annual award recognizes the lifetime achievement of a writer either born in Alabama or strongly connected to the state. It is funded by Harper Lee LLC and is one of the top Southern literature awards. Previous winners include E.O. Wilson, Winston Groom, Rick Bragg and Fannie Flagg.
“One of my most treasured possessions, literally under lock and key in my desk, is my signed copy of To Kill a Mockingbird,” King said. “As someone who came of age in rural Alabama during the time of the book’s release, I don’t just love and appreciate To Kill a Mockingbird, I revere it. When Harper Lee told the story of Scout Finch, she was telling my story as well, and the stories of so many of us who grew up during that historic time.”
In expressing her gratitude for the award, King wished she had been able to speak to the late author herself to say, “Harper Lee, few writers have touched and influenced as many lives as you have. Please allow this Alabama girl to finally say thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Your writing not only touched and influenced me, you changed my vision of the world.”
