E. Lynn Harris (1) (1955–2009)
Author of Invisible Life: A Novel
For other authors named E. Lynn Harris, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Born in Flint, Michigan and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, E. Lynn Harris graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1977, earning a degree in journalism with honors. After college, Harris sold computers for IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and AT&T for 13 years before quitting his job to show more write his first novel. The resulting book, Invisible Life, was self-published in 1992 and sold mostly at beauty salons and black-owned bookstores. After being published in trade paperback by Anchor Books, Invisible Life became the #1 book on the Blackboard Bestseller List of African-American Titles and spent a total of 25 consecutive months on the list. Harris was an openly gay African American and was best known for his depictions of African American men on the down low or in the closet. He won numerous awards for his work including two Novel of the Year Prizes by the Blackboard African-American Bestsellers, Inc. for Just As I Am and Any Way the Wind Blows, the James Baldwin Award for Literary Excellence for If This World Were Mine, and the Lambda Literary Award for the anthology Freedom in This Village. His other books include And This Too Shall Pass; Abide with Me; Not a Day Goes By; A Love of My Own; I Say a Little Prayer; What Becomes of the Brokenhearted; Just Too Good to Be True, and Basketball Jones. His work also appeared in American Visions, Essence, Washington Post Sunday Magazine, Sports Illustrated and the award-winning anthology Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America. He died on July 23, 2009 at the age of 54. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Eye on Books
Series
Works by E. Lynn Harris
Freedom in this Village: Twenty-Five Years of Black Gay Men's Writing (2005) — Editor; Contributor — 84 copies, 2 reviews
Associated Works
Black Like Us: A Century of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual African American Fiction (2002) — Contributor — 120 copies, 1 review
Go the Way Your Blood Beats: An Anthology of Lesbian and Gay Fiction by African-American Writers (1996) — Foreword; Contributor — 90 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Harris, Everette Lynn
- Birthdate
- 1955-06-20
- Date of death
- 2009-07-23
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Flint, Michigan, USA
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA - Education
- University of Arkansas
- Occupations
- computer salesman
novelist
professor
Members
Reviews
If This World Were Mine: A Novel by E. Lynn Harris
he writing wasn’t spectacular but the story and characters were interesting enough that it was easy to spend hours reading this book. I struggled with the undercurrent of biphobia throughout the novel, the willingness to only partially break out of restrictive understandings of Black same-gender loving men’s experiences, and (view spoiler). All in all, it was the kind of light, easy read I was looking for when I chose it but I wouldn’t recommend it.
½
I've always been a fan of E. Lynn Harris, devouring each book as soon as I could get my hands on them. Not so much this one. The story is average and predictable. Very disappointed!
Depressing...gloomy...tragic... Constricted and confused...
Hopefully he experienced some level of happiness or peace during his final years.
Hopefully he experienced some level of happiness or peace during his final years.
E. Lynn Harris was in Seattle recently promoting his latest book. I read a couple of interviews with him that peeked my interest so I got his first book - this one and read it. It's really an easy read and a really interesting view into the life of a black gay man. As a white straight woman, this is a world I honestly don't know at all and this small novel was a really interesting read.
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 22
- Also by
- 4
- Members
- 4,309
- Popularity
- #5,825
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 56
- ISBNs
- 149
- Languages
- 3
