Randall Kenan Di: Author Depicted Black, Gay Life In Prose | WUNC

Contents:

• E. LYNN HARRIS DI AT 54; BTSELLG THOR BROKE BARRIERS WRG ABOUT GAY BLACK CHARACTERS
• RANDALL KENAN DI: AUTHOR DEPICTED BLACK, GAY LIFE IN PROSE
• E. LYNN HARRIS, WHO WROTE OF GAY BLACK MEN’S LIV, DI AT 54
• RANDALL KENAN DI: AUTHOR PICTED BLACK, GAY LIFE PROSE

E. LYNN HARRIS DI AT 54; BTSELLG THOR BROKE BARRIERS WRG ABOUT GAY BLACK CHARACTERS

Lynn Harris, the thor who troduced lns of rears to the "visible life" of black gay men, was a lerary pneer whose generosy was as huge as his urage, iends said Friday.

Harris wrote a seri of novels that exposed rears to characters rarely picted lerature: black, affluent gay men who were mascule, plex and, sometim, tormented. Keh Boyk, an thor and iend, said Harris enuraged the black muny to talk openly about homosexualy.

RANDALL KENAN DI: AUTHOR DEPICTED BLACK, GAY LIFE IN PROSE

" How Harris broke ground In books like "Invisible Life, " "A Love of My Own, " and his New York Tim bt-sellg memoir, "What Be of the Brokenhearted, " Harris virtually vented a new genre: books that picted black gay men livg double liv. Though Harris wrote primarily about black gay men, some of his biggt fans were black women. "I had never seen homosexual love Ain-Amerin men portrayed that way, " she says.

"He always said 'I'm not a Jam Baldw, '" Boyk said, referrg to the openly gay black thor om the 1960s. "He was hurt by some of the cricism om some black gay men who felt he wasn't portrayg them accurately and others who thought he was tellg too much, " Boyk said. In a 2003 Detro Free Prs terview, Harris said he risted beg an advote for gay rights.

" Due said there has tradnally been a lot of pa associated wh homosexualy the black muny.

E. LYNN HARRIS, WHO WROTE OF GAY BLACK MEN’S LIV, DI AT 54

All About Gay and Lbian Relatnships • Ain-Amerin Issu • Books. Lynn Harris, a btsellg thor of popular black fictn who shattered barriers by wrg about gay characters novels such as “Invisible Life” and “Jt As I Am: A Novel, ” died Thursday night at Cedars-Sai Medil Center Los Angel. Lynn broke barriers popular fictn by wrg of gay black characters a time when those stori were not visible to most Amerins and certaly not to most Ain Amerins, ” said Pla L.

“I wanted to try and nvey the pa and lonels volved beg black and beg gay, ” Harris told The Tim receivg a spate of rejectn letters, Harris self-published his novel. “It’s not that there weren’t black gay thors wrg and beg published before, ” said Charl Flowers, who was Harris’ edor at Doubleday for 10 years, begng wh his third novel. “But subsequent books, he always had very strong, pennt Ain Amerin women wh profsnal succs” as ’ novels also appealed to gay rears, said Flowers, who is now executive director of the Lambda Lerary Foundatn, the untry’s leadg nonprof anizatn for Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr books and appeal to them, he said, “was very strong bee the first two novels is a young man who fds himself attracted to a man a way he had never felt before, and he pursu that relatnship.

“His books gave some closeted gay men the urage to e out, and they would share and be grateful.

RANDALL KENAN DI: AUTHOR PICTED BLACK, GAY LIFE PROSE

Randall Kenan, an thor whose stori explored the experience of beg Black and gay the Amerin South, has died. Harris, who was openly gay but who lived for many years nial or shame or both over that fact, was able to draw on his own experienc to make credible the emotnal nflicts of his characters, and his rears, many of them women, were drawn to his books bee they addrsed issu that were often surreptly pertent to their own liv.

Richardson, the gay narrator of Mr. ” His first homosexual experience occurred the nth gra; and many others end badly.