MONROEVILLE, Alabama -- I remember my grandparents casually mentioning they had spent the previous afternoon fishing at their pond with Ms. Alice and Ms. Nelle. I questioned what it felt like to spend the day with a celebrity, and my grandfather, the least affected person I’ve ever known, answered simply, "Baby, I don't see a celebrity. I see my friend."
That is who Pulitzer Prize winner Nelle Harper Lee is in my hometown – a friend and a source of pride.
My friends and I grew up immersed in one of the greatest literary works in the country, yet the importance of what Ms. Lee wrote, the full weight of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” didn't hit me until much later. Sure, I knew that Ms. Lee was a reluctant celebrity, but I certainly didn't view her that way.
My lone chance encounter occurred in the Piggly Wiggly frozen foods section, but she forever won my heart by being a friend, along with her sister, Alice, to my precious grandparents.
It isn't a stretch to say that Ms. Lee's success serves to give hope for something bigger to many in our small town.
That's why this book club – AL.com’s Red Clay Readers -- is important to me and important to share, too.
When this project began to take shape and "To Kill a Mockingbird" was the clear winner to read, I was as proud as I was excited. Simply put, "To Kill a Mockingbird" and Nelle Harper Lee shaped Monroeville, and Monroeville -- a real-life Maycomb -- shaped me.
It isn't about celebrity or a Pulitzer Prize. It's about history, and the knowledge that the ugliness of our country's past can help us create a brighter future for ourselves and our families.
Monroeville fills up with visitors about this time every spring as fans of "To Kill a Mockingbird" make a pilgrimage to see her work in the flesh.
And just like a mockingbird, the town preens under the gaze of the hundreds of visitors who learned life lessons from Scout and Jem and Atticus.
The town offers up the best of itself to those stopping in for a day, or two, to get a little bit closer to their inspiration. But here's the thing: You can't really get this small southern town in one day.
Sure you can soak in the beautiful words of Ms. Lee, as told by the Mockingbird players in their annual play production and you can see the iconic town square, full of hopeful shop keepers and business owners who see potential progress in a town that was hard-hit by the recession.
You can set out on a historic walking tour and take in the beautiful landscaping and homes.
But Monroeville is more than all that: More than words on a page or a film image of Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.
Just as the vividly constructed characters make "To Kill a Mockingbird" a classic, so, too, do the people make this town. And those people are fiercely protective of their native daughter and understandably proud of what she accomplished with just one novel.
Her work changed her life, but it changed her town, too.
For those who have proudly called Monroeville home, it’s about friends and the comforts of knowing you belong, even if life leads you elsewhere as an adult. I’ll be among friends this weekend at the Alabama Writers Symposium and enjoying what made Monroeville famous and special. But for me, just like my grandpa, it won’t be about celebrity.
AL.com's Red Clay Readers, in partnership with the Alabama Center for Literary Arts, is a book club designed to take a fresh look at a southern classic with the help of our readers. The first version of the club, which focuses on "To Kill a Mockingbird," will culminate with a panel discussion at the Alabama Writers Symposium in Monroeville on April 25.