E Lynn Harris Popular Books

E Lynn Harris Biography & Facts

E. Lynn Harris (born Everette Lynn Jeter; June 20, 1955 – July 23, 2009) was an American author. Openly gay, he was best known for his depictions of African-American men who were on the down-low and closeted. He authored ten consecutive books that made The New York Times Best Seller list, making him among the most successful African-American or gay authors of his era. Biography Harris was one of the first African-American students at Forest Heights Junior High and Hall High School in Little Rock. Harris had homes in Houston, Texas, Atlanta, Georgia, and Fayetteville, Arkansas. In his writings, Harris maintained a poignant motif, occasionally emotive, that incorporated vernacular and slang from popular culture. Harris became the first black male cheerleader as well as the first black yearbook editor while attending the University of Arkansas. After graduation, he became a computer salesman with IBM, AT&T, and Hewlett-Packard for 13 years living in Dallas, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. In 1990, Harris attempted suicide during a dark phase of depression and heavy drinking but later found the will to live through his writing. Harris relieved himself of his salesman duties and quit in order to begin writing his first novel. In June 2019, Harris was one of the inaugural fifty American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument (SNM) in New York City's Stonewall Inn. The SNM is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history, and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Death Harris died on July 23, 2009, while in Los Angeles, California, for a business meeting. He was found unconscious at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, and was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. According to the Office of the Los Angeles County Coroner, he died of heart disease complicated by hardening of the arteries and high blood pressure. Bibliography Invisible Life (self-published 1991, mass-marketed 1994) Just As I Am (1995), winner of Blackboard's Novel of the Year Award And This Too Shall Pass (1997) If This World Were Mine (1998), winner of James Baldwin Award for Literary Excellence Abide With Me (1999) Not A Day Goes By (2000) "Money Can't Buy Me Love" (2000) (short story), in Got to Be Real – 4 Original Love Stories by Eric Jerome Dickey, Marcus Major, E. Lynn Harris and Colin Channer (2001) Any Way the Wind Blows (2002), winner of Blackboard's Novel of the Year Award* A Love of My Own (2003), winner of Blackboard's Novel of the Year Award What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted – A Memoir (2003) Freedom in This Village: Twenty-Five Years of Black Gay Men's Writing, 1979 to the Present (editor, 2005) I Say a Little Prayer (2006) Just Too Good To Be True (2008) Basketball Jones (2009) Mama Dearest (2009) (posthumously released) In My Father's House (2010) (posthumously released) No One in the World (2012) (posthumously released) References External links Official Publisher Page. E. Lynn Harris at IMDb E. Lynn Harris at Find a Grave Obituary in The New York Times. Audio Interview with E. Lynn Harris.. Discover the E Lynn Harris popular books. Find the top 100 most popular E Lynn Harris books.

Best Seller E Lynn Harris Books of 2024

  • Invisible Life synopsis, comments

    Invisible Life

    E. Lynn Harris

    The reissue of a remarkable first novel by a young, gay, black author who fashioned a deeply moving and compelling coming of age story out of the highly controversial issues of bis...

  • Faith Under Fire synopsis, comments

    Faith Under Fire

    LaJoyce Brookshire

    The bestselling author of the novels Soul Food and Web of Deception, LaJoyce Brookshire tells a true story more shattering than any work of fiction. It's her story. A memoir of sur...

  • How to Make Black America Better synopsis, comments

    How to Make Black America Better

    Tavis Smiley

    Issuing a powerful call for constructive social action, the popular radio and television commentator Tavis Smiley has assembled the voices of leading African American artists, inte...