Miami, US: American novelist Harper Lee, famous for the masterpiece ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and for shunning the fame it brought her, has died aged 89, officials in her hometown said Friday.

A spokeswoman for the town of Monroeville, Alabama, where Lee spent her final years living in seclusion, confirmed local media reports of her death, saying: ‘She did pass away.’

Lee’s 1960 novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, which earned her a Pulitzer Prize, came to define racial injustice in the Depression-era South and became standard reading in classrooms across the world.

The film adaptation of the novel with same title is often considered to be one of the best ever made. Apart from overwhelming positive reviews from critics, the film won three Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Peck who played the famous character Atticus Finch, and was nominated for eight, including Best Picture.

Lee’s latest and second novel, ‘Go Set a Watchman’, was published in February 2015, nearly 45 years since her first one.