Everette "E." Lynn Harris (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.

This is the eighty-first post in a series highlighting the best gay and
lesbian authors from the 20th century (with a few before and after that
period) who have recorded in fiction, and nonfiction, the history of gay
people telling what life is, and was, during an important time of
history.

He
authored ten consecutive books to make The New York Times Best Seller
list making him among the most successful African American or gay
authors of his era.
Biography

Born
in Flint, Michigan, Harris grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas and 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 while attending the University
of Arkansas. After graduation, he became a computer salesman with IBM
for a time

Harris was initially unable to land a book deal with a
reputable publishing house for his first work, Invisible Life, so he
self-published it through a vanity publisher and sold copies from his
car trunk. Since then, ten of his novels have achieved New York Times
bestseller status.

Alongside fiction, Harris had also penned a personal memoir, What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?[

Death

Harris
died on July 23, 2009 while in Los Angeles for a business meeting. He
was found unconscious at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills,
California, and was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in
Los Angeles. An autopsy determined that the cause of death was heart
disease.


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)
From the Book Got to Be Real – 4 Original Love Stories by Eric Jerome Dickey, Marcus Major, E. Lynn Harris and Colin Channer
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 (2004)
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)

Any Way the Wind Blows

Harris'
2002 novel, Any Way the Wind Blows, is the sequel to his previous book,
Not a Day Goes By. It follows the jilted Yancey Harrington as she
pursues success and stardom in L.A, and her wayward bisexual ex-fiance
Basil Henderson, who has left thoughts of matrimony behind in favour of
singledom.
[edit]


What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted: A
Memoir E. Lynn Harris' autobiographical reflection. It concerns the rise
of a small town boy to a successful writer; detailing Harris' battle
with depression and 'coming out' experience as a gay African American.
[edit]


A
Love of My Own is Harris' 2003 novel, which won Blackboard's 'Novel of
the Year Award'. It details a year in the lives of several characters
living in New York. It is narrated alternately by Zola Norwood, editor
of a Hip Hop magazine, and Raymond Tyler Jr., the magazine's CEO. It
deals with both the trials and tribulations of the characters' love and
work lives against the back drop of the cultural and political events of
2001 and 2002.