Author E. Lynn Harris Has Died

Bestselling author E. Lynn Harris died earlier today while on a book tour on the West Coast promoting his 11th novel, Basketball Jones. He was 54. According to Essence, his personal assistant confirmed that his health had declined but did not provide details about the cause of death. Subsequent reports, however, claim he died of a heart attack.

Publicist Laura Gilmore said E. Lynn died Thursday night after being stricken while at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. She told the AP a cause of death had not yet been determined. A coroners' official in Los Angeles said only that a man matching E. Lynn's name and date of birth had died Thursday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

E. Lynn was known for writing about gay, black culture. He was the author of Just As I Am, Too Good to Be True, Abide with Me and other novels, and of the 2004 memoir What Becomes of the Brokenhearted.

Most recently, he served as a visiting professor for the English department at the University of Arkansas.