UPDATE:7/30/09
LOS ANGELES – A coroner’s official says heart disease, complicated by high blood pressure and a hardening of the arteries, is what killed author E. Lynn Harris last week.
County coroner Craig Harvey said Wednesday that the 54-year-old died of natural causes. Harris died July 23 while visiting Los Angeles to promote his latest book.
Harris lived in Atlanta and was considered a pioneer of gay black fiction, enjoying unprecedented success in the genre. He wrote 11 novels, and ten of them became New York Times best-sellers.
More than four million of his books are in print.
From ArkansasSports360.com:
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.
