Description
A literary rent party to benefit the Hurston/Wright Foundation of African-American fiction, with selections to savor from bestselling authors as well as talented rising stars.
Not since Terry McMillan’s Breaking Ice have so many African-American writers been brought together in one volume. A stellar collection of works from more than fifty hot names in fiction, Gumbo represents remarkable synergy. Edited by bestselling luminaries Marita Golden and E. Lynn Harris, this collection spans new and previously published tales of love and luck, inspiration and violation, hip new worlds and hallowed heritage from voices such as:
• Edwidge Danticat
• Eric Jerome Dickey
• Kenji Jasper
• John Edgar Wideman
• Terry McMillan
• David Anthony Durham
• Bertice Berry
…and many, many more
Also featuring original stories by Golden and Harris themselves, Gumbo heralds the debut of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards for Published Black Writers (scheduled for October 2002), and all advances and royalties from the book will support the Hurston/Wright Foundation. Combining authors with a variety of flavorful writing, Gumbo will have readers clamoring for second helpings.
About the Author
E. Lynn Harris was born in Flint, Michigan and raised, along with three sisters, in Little Rock, Arkansas. He attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville where he was the school's first black yearbook editor, the first black male Razorbacks cheerleader, and the president of his fraternity. He graduated with honors with a degree in journalism.Harris sold computers for IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and AT&T for thirteen years while living in Dallas, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. He finally quit his sales job to write his first novel,Invisible Life, and, failing to find a publisher, he published it himself in 1991 and sold it mostly at black-owned bookstores, beauty salons, and book clubs before he was "discovered" by Anchor Books. Anchor publishedInvisible Lifeas a trade paperback in 1994, and thus his career as an author officially began.Invisible Lifewas followed byJust As I Am(1994),And This Too Shall Pass(1996),If This World Were Mine(1997),Abide with Me(1999),Not A Day Goes By(2000),Any Way the Wind Blows(2001),A Love of My Own(2002),I Say A Little Prayer(2006),Just Too Good To Be True(2008),Basketball Jones(2009), andMama Dearest(2009),all published by Doubleday, andIn My Father's House(2010), published by St. Martin's Press. Ten of Harris's novels hit theNew York Timesbestseller list, and his books have also appeared on the bestseller lists of theWall Street Journal,Publishers Weekly,USA Today,Entertainment Weekly,Washington Post, andLos Angeles Times. In 2003, Harris published his first work of nonfiction, a memoir entitledWhat Becomes of the Brokenhearted, which was also aNew York Timesbestseller. Today, there are more than four million copies of his books in print.Harris's writing also appeared inEssence,Washington Post Sunday Magazine, andSports Illustrated, as well as in the award-winning anthologyBrotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America, Go The Way Your Blood Beats. His novella, "Money Can't Buy Me Love" was published inGot To Be Real: Four Original Love Stories.Freedom in This Village, a collection of short stories edited by Harris, was released in the fall of 2004. His short fiction appeared inGumbo: A Celebration of African American Writers(Harlem Moon), a 2002 collection he edited with writer Marita Golden.Harris won numerous accolades and prizes for his work.Just As I Amwas awarded the Novel of the Year Prize by the Blackboard African-American Bestsellers, Inc.If This World Were Minewas nominated for a NAACP Image Award and won the James Baldwin Award for Literary Excellence.Abide with Mewas also nominated for a NAACP Image Award. His anthologyFreedom in this Villagewon the Lambda Literary Award in 2005. In 1999, the University of Arkansas honored Harris with a Citation of Distinguished Alumni for outstanding professional achievement, and in October 2000 he was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame. He was named toEbony's "Most Intriguing Blacks" list,Out Magazine's "Out 100" list,New York Magazine's "Gay Power 101" list, andSavoy's "100 Leaders and Heroes in Black America" list. Other honors included the Sprague Todes Literary Award, the Harvey Milk Honorary Diploma, and The Silas Hunt Award for Outstanding Achievement from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.Harris was a member of the Board of Directors of the Hurston/Wright Foundation and the Evidence Dance Company. He was the founder of the E. Lynn Harris Better Days Foundation, a nonprofit company that provides support to aspiring writers and artists.E. Lynn Harris passed away in 2009.http://us.macmillan.com/inmyfathersho...
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