Best-Selling Author E. Lynn Harris To Teach At University Of Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Best-selling author and University of Arkansas alumnus E. Lynn Harris will return to his alma mater this fall to teach two courses in creative writing and literature. Harris’ success as a novelist and his connections in the literary world offer students an opportunity to learn from an author well-versed both in the craft and the business of writing.

The first African American male to have books appear on both the fiction and non-fiction New York Times best seller lists, Harris is the author of eight novels and a recently-published memoir. His speaking engagements and book tours have taken him to universities across the nation, but his appointment as a writer in residence at the University of Arkansas represents his first foray into teaching.

"We're pleased to have a writer of Harris' popularity and talent join our faculty this fall," said Robert Brinkmeyer, chair of the English department. "I expect his experiences as a writer will be invaluable to our students as they consider their own careers. His expertise in African American literature will be a strong addition to our faculty. And his enthusiasm for writing, reading and teaching will be contagious."

Over the dozen years of his career, Harris has been offered teaching positions by numerous

universities. He always declined, anxious that he would take the job of a writer who needed that position to fund creative work. But when UA Chancellor John A. White suggested he return to teach at the University of Arkansas, Harris saw it as an opportunity for giving rather than taking.

"I realize how much of my success I owe to the U of A. But it’s one thing to write a check and feel like you’ve repaid some of that debt," Harris said. "It’s another thing to give of yourself. Teaching makes you give of yourself, and that’s far more rewarding for everyone involved."

Students who wish to study under Harris will have their pick of two specially-designed courses this fall. Contemporary African American Fiction will examine books and stories by today’s most popular black authors — R.M. Johnson, Eric Jerome Dickey, Nicole Bailey Williams and Tina McElroy Ansa, among others. Harris has invited some of these authors to visit the class over the course of the semester and participate in discussion about their writing.

The second course, Special Studies in Creative Writing, will diverge from traditional creative writing workshops by looking for the literary in people’s everyday interests. Students will recover the lost art of letter writing and learn to write essays, public opinion pieces and letters to the editor, Harris said. He wants his students to be capable of writing an insightful critique on movies, music or books that matter to them — to make writing a natural response to the world around them.

"People are often fearful of writing in the same way they’re fearful of public speaking. They worry about verbs, subjects, participles. They make it into a task," Harris said. "But what’s just as important as a grammatically clean work is one that really speaks. I want my students to recognize and trust their own voices and to learn how to transfer those voices to their writing."

Harris, himself, began to write in much the same way — as a response to his life and experiences. After graduating from the University of Arkansas in 1977, Harris took a job selling computers with IBM. It wasn’t until 1991, in the wake of personal tragedies and revelations, that he penned his first novel "Invisible Life."

Unable to sell the novel or obtain an agent, Harris self-published the book, selling copies from the trunk of his car and through local bookstores. Eventually, "Invisible Life" fell into the hands of an editor at Doubleday, who published the novel in paperback.

Since that first success, Harris has published eight more novels, many debuting near the top of the best sellers list. His books have been nominated for NAACP Image Awards, won the James Baldwin Award for Literary Excellence in 1997 and earned the Blackboard Novel of the Year Prize three times. In 2000, Harris was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame. He has since been named one of Ebony magazine’s "Most Intriguing Blacks" and listed among Savoy magazine’s "100 Leaders and Heroes in Black America."

His latest book, "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted," was released in July and is already earning fresh acclaim, though its rewards may turn out to be as personal as they are professional. An intimate and revealing memoir, the book records Harris’ early abuse at the hands of his stepfather, his learning experiences — academic and otherwise — in high school and college, his struggles with depression and his confusion about his sexuality.

But it also conveys Harris’ remarkable resilience, his hope for real love and his true reverence for writing and the way it can change people’s lives. It’s a reverence that brings Harris back to Arkansas, to introduce new people to the craft — not as a writer, this time, but as a teacher.

"Writing has allowed me to craft and sculpt a magnificent life and touch the lives of others in ways that still awe and humble me," Harris writes in his memoir. "Every day I receive e-mails from fans who let me know how much my books mean to them and how their lives have been enriched and changed. Writing is my lifeline. Writing saved my life."