Harper Lee Award

The Harper Lee Award for Alabama's Distinguished Writer of the Year is an annual award recognizing a writer who was born in Alabama or has spent their formative years there. It is named after Harper Lee, whose To Kill A Mockingbird has sold over 30 million copies.^[1][2]

The Harper Lee Award was established in 1998 and was first awarded to Albert Murray.

Recipients

• 1998 — Albert Murray
• 1999 — Madison Jones
• 2000 — Helen Norris
• 2001 — Sena Jeter Naslund
• 2002 — Mary Ward Brown
• 2003 — Rodney Jones
• 2004 — Sonia Sanchez
• 2005 — Andrew Highway
• 2006 — Wayne Greenhaw^[3]
• 2007 — William Cobb
• 2008 — Rebecca Gilman^[4]
• 2009 — Rick Bragg
• 2010 — Carolyn Haines
• 2011 — Winston Groom
• 2012 — Fannie Flagg
• 2013 — Gay Talese
• 2014 — Mark Childress
• 2015 — Hank Lazer
• 2016 — E. O. Wilson^[5]
• 2017 — Brad Watson
• 2018 — Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
• 2019 — Daniel Wallace
• 2020 — Patti Callahan Henry^[6]
• 2021 — Angela Johnson
• 2022 — Cynthia Tucker
• 2023 — Joy Harjo
• 2024 — Tom Franklin
• 2025 — Cassandra King

^[7]