Dr. Kerry Madden-LunsfordPhoto by UAB Media Madden decided to pursue her book project. Now, Penguin has re-released Madden’s 2009 biography for young adults in response to Lee’s latest novel Go Set A Watchman.
Madden, author and professor of creative writing at UAB, was asked to write the book in 2007 and shortly after, she received the news that Lee would not be part of the project.
“I cannot sit in LA and Google Harper Lee,” Madden said of her thoughts at the time. “I have to go to Monroeville.”
She called her sister, and the two of them found themselves in the small town in South Alabama searching for Lee’s family, friends, neighbors and old haunts. For the first week, Madden and her sister interviewed people during the day and transcribed the histories at night.
“The story you thought you were getting was often not the story you came away with, but it was a better one,” she said. “Sometimes they’d tell you, 'I’m not going to tell you about that now. I’ll tell you about that later, but I’ll tell you about this now if you want to listen.’ It was not efficient, but it was the best way I knew how to write the book.”
After the first week, she took on the project alone, travelling back and forth from Los Angeles to Monroeville, collecting not only firsthand accounts of Lee’s childhood and life from those that knew her best, but also memories of a life long past..
“When the older people would tell stories their faces would get young,” said Madden. “It was almost like time travelling. Their eyes would light up and they would just start getting tickled or laugh…I just wanted to capture the energy of those interviews and get it on the page.”
Madden also visited Lee’s alma mater, Huntingdon College in Montgomery, and she tried to take the backroads north from Monroeville. She explored little towns and even found the store where Lee and Truman Capote, Lee’s friend and fellow southern author, ate hoop cheese and drank RC Cola.
Once she had the stories, her job was to weave the non-fiction into a fiction-like prose that would be appealing to young readers. And she did this through showcasing a young and brave (pre-To Kill A Mockingbird) Harper Lee.
When Lee was 23, she quit law school a month before graduation and headed north to New York City. She worked odd jobs and struggled, but she didn’t make excuses. Ten years later, she became one of the most famous authors in America.
“I think what I was trying to convey in writing [the book] is: as writers we have to be brave and curious and not be afraid to explore the world,” said Madden.
Up Close: Harper LeePhoto by Jake Reiss For Madden, Lee helped instill the idea that as long as you don’t quit, you’ll make it. Even when Madden felt as if she were living in a “Harper Lee snow globe,” not cooking or cleaning while papers were strewn across her house, she didn’t stop. “I told the kids, we’re not eating off the table for a couple of days," she said. “I have to make sure everything matches up.”
Like Lee, Madden pulled out her courage and traveled far from home, to England, when she was 20. While there, she fostered a love for English writers that translated into a love for southern authors once she returned home. Years later, that appreciation would change her life.
“When I first started writing [the book], I did not have any idea that I would be living in Alabama. I was just going down to start to do research. So, I looked at my time there [as if] I had to cover a lot of ground fast.”
Now, Madden lives part-time in Los Angeles and part-time in Alabama teaching young people how to tell their stories.
“If I had not been writing Up Close: Harper Lee I would never have had any reason to come to Alabama … So, definitely writing the book was the spark that brought me here.”
Madden said she hopes teens who read her book will understand that they all have stories to tell no matter where they’re from, and to remember to be brave.
Madden will be at the Alabama Booksmith in Birmingham July 14 and in Monroeville, Ala., July 15 signing copies of Up Close: Harper Lee.
