Someone whom I consider a watershed writer has passed.E. Lynn Harris died this past Thursday of undisclosed causes. He was 54.
I refer to Mr Harris the way I do not just because he was one of the first African-American authors I'd read intentionally for the experience. And notwithstanding the fact he was gay, but at the time I was reading his first book, Invisible Life, the nascent African-American mass market for books was getting started. Through a book club I belonged to, I discovered many other books by black authors: some excellent and some not so. And his first novel was like The Stonewall of the upsurge ushering it all in.
And so I say, simply, "Thanks, Mr Harris."
- Farmer Ted
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