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THE RU REPORT / JUNE 26, 2003 / VOLUME 2.50: E. Lynn Harris Delivers Tell All, Wendy Williams Makes Em Gag, Tyra Does It Again, Macy Gray Update & More
by Karu F. Daniels (New York, NY)

E. Lynn Harris
(Jun. 27, 2003) READING FOR POINTS: It’s summer time, so you know what that means, right? Time to soak up some sun, enjoy the breeze and kick back and get to reading that book, or those books you want to.
One particular title that savvy readers of Black literature should look out for is E. Lynn Harris’s long-awaited memoir, “What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted” (Doubleday), which is due to arrive in bookstores on July 8. The best-selling author, whose last novel, “A Love Of My Own,” was just released in mass-market paperback, shares his never-before-told life story, and puts to rest all innuendo and assumption.

“I knew I had to write this book,” the usually reticent Mr. Harris tells The RU Report, last night from his posh hotel room in Kansas City. “I have been working on [this book] for seven years and I just had to let go of it. Every time I wrote or read parts of it I had to go back to those times and I was ready to move on. Feel me?”

I refer to him as a male diva. He’s prepping for yet another book signing, to promote his product. He’s wearing a facial mask. This is all a part of his beautifying regimen to help him look good for his audience, who come out in droves to hear him read his prose at bookstores and auditoriums around the country.

“What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted” is his ninth book. He’s been going at it since 1991 when, on the heels of rejection letters from major publishing houses and book agents, he self-published the semi-autobiographical, “Invisible Life,” which revealed in deep detail the stories of bi-sexual and gay Black men. The groundbreaking literary work ushered in a new wave of more liberating and freer novels dealing with once-taboo subject matter. It also sold tons of books and landed him a long-term book deal, making him a household name. “The advantage of self-publishing is having the final say on everything,” he shares. “The disadvantage is you don't have the capital major publishers have.”

To this very day, many of his readers think that his main protagonist -- of “Invisible Life” and its sequels “Just As I Am” and “Abide With Me”—Raymond Tyler, Jr. is actually him. “No, I'm not Raymond although we share the same heart.”

The new book has already been described as “heartbreaking and uplifting, while also being despairing and joyful.” Unlike other cultural figures, who write so called memoirs, Mr. Harris talks in depth about his life and all the obstacles that he has overcome. Life hasn’t been all peaches and cream for this Little Rock, AK native. His sexual frustration led to bouts of depression, which culminated in a suicide attempt, which took place on a 1990 summer evening in Washington DC.

“The suicide attempt taught me that a person could reach bottom, look up and truly see the light and know that life has so much to offer if we are willing to take chances,” he reveals. “That's what it did for me, for the first time in my life I took chances after that night which I will not discuss anymore.”

Mr. Harris has come a very long way since the early days of living in Dallas, where he worked as a salesman for IBM computers grossed over $100,000 a year in salary. At 26, he lived the double life of ‘impressing others and not doing what was true’ for him. It drained him. Moving to Atlanta, his creativity opened up and that’s where he penned “Invisible Life,” which he later hawked out of his car to his largely female demographic at beauty parlors and other local, grassroots establishments in throughout the south.

He’s back in Atlanta and making a home for himself. Mr. Harris recently built a four-story brick house in a gated community in the ritzy Buckhead section of the city. “I lived in Atlanta before so I am use to it, but it is different from New York and much slower in pace. But the people give me so much love. Went to a Donnie concert Saturday night and about 15 people stopped to say hello and how happy they were that I was back in Atlanta.”

Being a best-selling author isn’t enough for Mr. Harris. He has taken on the responsibility of becoming a visiting Professor and Writer in Residence in the English Department at his alma matter, the University of Arkansas. “I'm looking forward to teaching in the fall and finishing my new novel,” he adds. “I also did an ad for Absolut [vodka], which will be released this summer and I'm working on a play.”

With over 3.2 million books in print, whirlwind book tours and a seven-figure income, he is building quite an impressive legacy. But he remains modest. “To have a legacy,” he maintains, “I have to write both fiction and nonfiction and not be afraid to speak out on controversial topics like James Baldwin did.”