Charles J. Shields is the author of Harper Lee’s New York Times bestselling biography MOCKINGBIRD, the Kurt Vonnegut biography AND SO IT GOES, and the biography of John Edward Williams, THE MAN WHO WROTE THE PERFECT NOVEL. Shields has spoken to hundreds of large audiences in schools, libraries, museums and historic theaters, and appeared in newspapers and magazines worldwide, including the Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, Huffington Post and New York Times.

Books by Charles J. Shields

Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee

by Charles J. Shields - Biography, Nonfiction

At the center of Shields's lively book is the story of Lee's struggle to create her famous novel. But her life contains many other highlights as well: her girlhood as a tomboy in overalls in tiny Monroeville, Alabama; the murder trial that inspired her great work; her journey to Kansas as Capote's ally and research assistant to help report the story of the Clutter murders; the surrogate family she found in New York City.