To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee will be getting a new lease on life, this time as a graphic novel set to be released in 2018. The book is arguably one of the most popular novels in American publishing history, having sold over 40 million copies and translated into 40 languages.
According to a report in the Guardian, the move to adapt the beloved novel into a more popular and current form is an idea that the Harper Lee estate was keen about. Since the author passed away in 2016, her estate is being managed out of Monroeville, the author’s hometown.
5 Things About To Kill A Mockingbird
1. The graphic novel will be made by British artist Fred Fordham and will be out by November 2018. Fordham is also known for his work with Phil Pullman in The Adventures of John Blake: Mystery of The Ghost Ship. He told the Guardian how pleased he was to be part of the project: “Adapting a story that means so much to so many – and finding the appropriate art style to give it life in a long-form visual medium – is a great honour and responsibility, and, mercifully, also a great pleasure.”
2. The Lee estate approached the publisher, William Heinemann, with the idea of the graphic novel. Aside from this, there are several other projects in the pipeline connected to the novel. These include a museum housed in the courthouse where Lee’s father worked and replicas of the three houses mentioned in the novel. To this day, the novel is staged as a play every year in town in honor of Harper Lee.
3. The novel is required reading in American schools because of its themes – racial tolerance and the fight against prejudice. Despite its depiction of a small town set in the 1960’s, most of the issues that the book touches on remain true to this day, especially with the rise of anti-immigrant sentiments under the Trump administration.
4. Controversy surrounded the publication of Lee’s second novel Go Set A Watchman in 2015. Harper Lee herself said that she was never going to write another novel so the world was caught by surprise when she announced that she was coming out with a second one. According to another report by The Guardian, the manuscript was discovered by Lee’s lawyer in a safe deposit box.
5. The graphic novel will be the latest incarnation of the novel. The novel has been adapted into film in 1962, which won several Oscars. It was adapted as a play by Christopher Sergel, which is the same play that Monroeville stages every May.