What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?

That’s the title of the memoir by bestselling novelist E. Lynn Harris.

It was also the question that his friends and fans are asking.

E. Lynn Harris died on July 23 of hypertension-related heart failure at the age of 54.

I describe him as “a detective of his own soul,” because the way he had to unpack layers of his own identity, including but not limited to his sexuality, paved the way for him to write.

I was privileged to be a part of a recent memorial for Harris at the National Black Arts Forum. Novelist Tina McElroy Ansa led the event. She and her husband, the filmmaker Jonee Ansa, are both incredible people and gave moving (and often funny and inspirational) testimony to E. Lynn’s life.
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