One of the more enigmatic figures in American literature has died.

To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee was 89.

The 1960 novel sold more than 40 million copies and was adapted into a 1962 movie starring Gregory Peck.

Peck won an Academy Award and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for playing Atticus Finch, a white Alabama lawyer who represented a black man accused of rape. Finch had similarities to Lee's father, lawyer Amasa Coleman. 

The book and movie helped fuel the civil-rights movement. Lee's editor, Tay Hohoff, has been credited for helping transform Finch into a more liberal character.

In 2014, British lawyer and human-rights advocate Shami Chakrabarti named To Kill a Mockingbird as the most influential book ever written by a woman. In the 1990s, a Book of the Month Club survey ranked it second behind the Bible as having the greatest impact on people's lives.

After the book was published, Lee disappeared from the public eye. However she re-emerged in 2015 with the release of Go Set a Watchman, which was a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird.

Go Set a Watchman triggered a wave of interest in Vancouver, with Book Warehouse manager Caitlin Jessen telling the Vancouver Sun that it was the biggest release since the last Harry Potter title.

Lee's death comes as racism appears to be on the rise in the city.

This week, several East Vancouver homes were targeted with neo-Nazi graffiti, according to a CTV news report.

Last month, Syrian refugees were pepper-sprayed near a bus stop on Kingsway after attending a welcoming event at the Muslim Association of Canada Islamic Centre.