How Harper Lee inspired Patreon s CEO to give money to unknown creators

Get the Full StoryA gift let To Kill a Mockingbird s author focus on her art. Now Jack Conte wants to do something similar for people with more talent than time.

In 1956, Nelle Harper Lee was an aspiring novelist who paid her bills by working as an airline reservation agent in New York City. That Christmas, her friends Michael and Joy Brown gave her a remarkable gift: enough money to quit her day job and write full time for one year. The subsidy changed her life and, since it allowed her to dive into the work that eventually became To Kill a Mockingbird, it eventually changed the lives of the many people who have been inspired by the American classic, which has sold more than 40 million copies to date.Read Full Story

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