Before you read “Go Set a Watchman,” catch up on “To Kill a Mockingbird” with HEC-TV

    Today has long been awaited and it is finally here – the release of Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman!

    The novel follows an adult Scout Finch who travels from New York to Maycomb, Alabama, to visit her father, Atticus Finch, 20 years after the events in the historically acclaimed novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.

    Before you dive into Lee’s newly released novel, catch up on To Kill a Mockingbird with HEC-TV as we travel to Monroeville, Alabama, the home of Harper Lee, to gain deeper insight into the novel.

    In 2008, HEC-TV provided students around the world the opportunity to gain new insights into the literary masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird, through our interactive program, HEC-TV Live! with a two-part series.

    In Monroeville, Setting and Character, host Tim Gore visits Monroeville, Alabama, the inspiration for the setting of To Kill A Mockingbird. Current residents share stories of growing up in Monroeville with Ms. Lee and significant story setting sites are visited. Students from Canada, Missouri and Monroeville contribute questions and insights, as HEC-TV, Metro Theater Company and actors from a production of To Kill A Mockingbird, explore setting and character and how understanding Harper Lee’s life in Monroeville inform even richer understanding of the novel.

    In Monroeville, Themes of Social Justice, Tim conducts a panel discussion from the Webster University set of the Metro Theater production of To Kill A Mockingbird between on-site students and experts and interactive groups from around the world. Tim leads students in increasing their understanding and relevance of Mockingbird’s themes through exploration of responses to five discussion prompts that students prepared before program broadcast. Many images of sites and characters related to the novel are shown and experts Emily Task of the Diversity Awareness Partnership and Emily Petkewich, past Metro Theater Educational Director, offer insights to add clarity and refinement.

    Catch Monroeville: Settings and Character at 4 p.m. and Monroeville: Themes of Social Justice at 9 p.m. on Charter Channel 989 or AT&T U-verse Channel 99.

    Click here to watch Monroeville: Settings and Character on demand.

    Click here to watch Monroeville: Themes of Social Justice ​on demand.

    If you would like to purchase, Go Set a Watchman, shop local with Left Bank Books!