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There were rumblings on several blogs, Twitter and Facebook about this sad news earlier today, but it has been confirmed that E. Lynn Harris has died of a heart attack at the age of 54. A visiting professor at the University of Arkansas, Harris spun tales of black and gay life on the printed page and it made him a rare bird in a world, sadly, where the closet is still the rule for many gay black men. Publisher’s Weekly named Harris “the best selling African American male novelist of the 1990s.”
His first novel, 1994′s “Invisible Life,” told the story of a law student torn between feelings for his girlfriend and another man. “It’s difficult for a lot of Black men to be honest about [their sexuality],” Harris said in an interview.More books, many about black men struggling with their sexuality, followed, including “Just as I Am,” “This Too Shall Pass,” and, his most recent, “Basketball Jones.” Harris also wrote a memoir, “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted.” According to his Random House biography, Harris was named one of Out Magazine’s “Out 100,” Ebony Magazine’s “Most Intriguing Blacks” and one of New York Magazine’s “Gay Power 101.”
News of Harris’ death spread virally after a post at ArkansasSports360.com reported the news. Harris was a graduate of University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the school’s first black male cheerleader, and was also a visiting English professor.
The news broke this morning across Twitter, the uber-popular instant message social networking platform. Patrik Ian Polk, the director and creator of Noah’s Arc, was supposed to meet Harris this afternoon for lunch and Tweets the details to Rod 2.0: “I called his hotel in Beverly Hills, to confirm lunch and hopefully laugh about the erroneous reports of his death. When the operator transferred me to a hotel manager, I knew something strange was up. This is unbelievable.”Polk adds that Lynn was visiting with one of his son’s frat brothers “when he went into cardiac arrest … I’m in shock. To have just spoken to him yesterday afternoon, this is hard to believe.
3 Comments
I loved his workHe was too young. My heart goes out to his friends and family.
Oh no!This makes me very sad. I’ve read and enjoyed nearly all his books. It’s terrible to lose a beloved writer so young. I’ll be thinking of his friends and family today, too.
RATS!I did not read his novels, but when not so long out myself I remember stumbling upon his first one in a bookstore in a mall (Walden’s? some store like that).
I could hardly believe what I was reading!
There aren’t anywhere near enough of such stories out there!
What an unfortunately early death! :-(