Author E. Lynn Harris Passes Away at 53
 

Author, Arkansas Fan E. Lynn Harris Passes Away at 53

Author E. Lynn Harris, cheerleading sponsor/coach for Arkansas and a passionate Razorbacks fan, has passed away at 53. He was on a book tour of the West Coast.

Harris, a best-seller whose work dealt with black, gay culture and delved into athletics, was a passionate Razorbacks fan. For the past eight semesters, Harris served as a "visiting" professor for the English department. Harris detailed his life, inspiration and passion for the Razorbacks in a September 2008 Q&A with ArkansasSports360.com
Most recently, Harris' wrote his 11th novel, "Basketball Jones", which involved an NBA player and the player's gay lover. Before "Basketball Jones," Harris penned "Just Too Good To Be True," a novel detailing the life of Heisman Trophy candidate Brady Manning. Harris' novel focused on the pressures surrounding Manning and the support system the star athlete leaned on to help him through dark and troubling times.


http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/spor...t.asp?pID=4740

People die everyday but a lot of celebrities have passed in the past 3 weeks.

WOW!!!!!! Dayum!!!!

Wow. That was pretty random. What's going on with all of these celebrities??

RIP.

What the eff?

First, I thought he was a bit older than 53. Second, didn't Carnation know him at Arkansas? Third, what the eff?

This is very strange to me. VERY strange. I'm baffled.

I'm also finding it strange that only one news source has reported it.

I agree. I'm looking for more because I want it to be a hoax or a mistake.

and the plot thickens...

http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkans...is_report.aspx

And he just had a book released earlier this year...Is the afterlife short on entertainment???

If you Google it there are a number of stories on this. He just passed today so the media is just catching on.

Someone has already updated his Wikipedia. :rolleyes:

Just tried Google, Yahoo and Bing...none haven't really updated beyond the arkansas report and all I put was his name..and wikipedia?

You aren't serious.

This is what happens when you aren't Michael Jackson...reminds me of what happened with Sinbad a few years ago when his death was exaggerated...LOL

Other than a few blogs here and there, I haven't found any "real" news source. But, after MJ's death, maybe blogs are the place to go for this kind of thing?

There are a few articles floating. The news was probably not supposed to be released quite yet, so that could be why there is not a lot out about it.

Death is all we seem to hear about in recent days.

Yes, someone updated his Wikipedia.

Michael Jackson's death was rumored for about an hour.

and probably haven't been released until a cause of death has been confirmed....so many reasons but still enough to say !!DAMN!!

Yeah, I know..I went and noted that no source was quoted.

I wasn't asking you seriously. We have enough comon sense enough to know to take wikipedia with a grain of salt.

Now...let's wait to see if TMZ reports it...heh.

I don't know what "real" news sources are when it comes to people who aren't considered top celebrities.

I mentioned Wikipedia because it is really silly for someone to have made that change within the past hour. It's almost like they couldn't wait to do it. :rolleyes:

Yes, I knew him and I'm trying to contact a lot of mutual friends. Several people have heard this and no one can confirm it.

53 would be about right, he was a year or so behind me.

Wow. I saw an *amazing* play of his when I lived in Little Rock. He was very well known there, and was (is?) an incredible talent. Assuming it's true, this is a big loss in my book.

It hit Essence.com already.

:(:(:(

I guess I was thinking of newspapers, even trade journals or magazines, not TMZ/Gawker/Defamer/DListed/Perez Hilton. Maybe it's my "old media" bias coming out.

I have that same bias. I had to get over it when MJ died. Real media was late.

Was he 53 or 54? Essence is saying 54.

Doesn't matter if he was 53 or 54, if he is indeed dead, he died too young.

True, but I'm curious about it. They could at least get his age right.

A mutual friend has just been told that it looked like a heart attack.

Now it's being widely reported:

Links and links


You know, when you think about it, in a twisted sense, this really goes to show how fast news can spread before it becomes 'official'.

Wow. :(

I think the timing of credible sources is even worse when you have people who are not mainstream celebrities. It makes sense that Arkansas may report this first. I just needed something else than that...and the rush to update his Wikipedia (:rolleyes:).

See, when I said "who's next?" In the chihuahua thread, I was being rhetorical...

RIP

This is an incredibly sad day for all real Alpha men as well as the many fans, readers, friends, and other people who loved E. Lynn Harris.

I thought of him as a great writer,but I just hope that the media doesn't assume it was anything to do with him being openly gay.

Get it said.

He died young and "out of no where." Especially for celebs, that often leads to speculation whether it involves longterm illness that was not public knowledge, drugs, and diseases that people (even falsely) connect with lifestyle choices.

Sad but true. But now I think his works will be made into movies.

This is just so sad :(

Out of those listed TMZ has been accurate in more than one instance. They were the first to report MJ's death and it was accurate. I don't always discount TMZ.

That always happens with Wikipedia though.

So sorry to hear this. He was a good author, and wrote quality novels. Based on what I heard, he fainted a few days ago, but never went to the doctor. Perhaps something could have been done had he gone to get himself checked out. Either way I hope people pay attention to all these deaths lately and start taking better care of themselves.