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An answered 'Prayer'

Jason A. Michael

DETROIT – It's been a long time coming – three years since the release of his painstakingly honest autobiography ("What Becomes of the Brokenhearted") and four since his last novel ("A Love of My Own") – but E. Lynn Harris is back. Fans everywhere are heralding the release of his ninth novel, "I Say A Little Prayer" ($21.95 from Doubleday). Even better news, Harris, who holds the distinction of being the first African-American male to appear on both the best-selling fiction and non-fiction lists of The New York Times, is headed for Detroit for a two-day stopover May 17-18.
The question on everyone's mind is where he's been and why he's been away so long.
"I just needed a break to kind of recharge my battery, if you will," Harris said nonchalantly, speaking to Between The Lines long distance from Washington on the second day of his tightly scheduled book tour.
Between books, Harris kept busy working on screenplays, watching his novel "Not A Day Goes By" transformed into a successful stage show, and teaching at his alma mater, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
"I went to teach for a semester and I just fell in love with teaching," explained Harris. "So I wanted to wait until I felt I had a story to tell and something to say."
That story tells of "a gay man's search for his spirituality and his faith, and how he makes it work in his life," said Harris. "Chauncey Greer is motivated by one of his minister's speeches about changing his life and really pursuing it full force. Along the way, little stumbling blocks come in, in the form of somebody from his past, who is now leading a somewhat different life."
If it sounds provocative, well, that's Harris's specialty. He's been weaving power and passion into words since 1991, when he self-published his first novel, "Invisible Life," which is now in workshop in New York being translated for the stage and, hopefully later, film.
Detroit has been a tour stop for Harris since the early days, and this time around it's one of only two cities on the schedule that gets three signings over two days.
"I love Detroit," Harris said. "I think they claim me as their own since I was born in Flint, and I'm really honored by that. It's one of those cities where I could come and stay a week and do something every day and still have nice crowds."
If Detroiters love Harris because they consider him a hometown boy, it's also because he has a lot of heart. Always one to encourage upcoming writing, Harris has set up scholarships at his school and gives to new writers however he can.
"I still continue to try to support, just out of my own funds, my friends that are writers who don't get the tours like I get," he said. "I do anything that I can do, in terms of getting the word out there. Like with my Web site, I plan to make it more active and interactive and update it and let people know about books. I bring in writers to my school where I teach. I make it a point of not bringing people who are huge mega-sellers … I want to give exposure to a lot of people like Nicole Bailey Williams, Kimberla Lawson Roby and RM Johnson. These are people whose books I enjoy and I thought the students would enjoy and they did."
If Harris appears overly generous, well, it's just how he was raised.
"I want to continue to do my part," he said. "I think to whom much is given much is expected, so that's what I'm trying to do."

E. Lynn Harris will be signing copies of his new book, "I Say A Little Prayer," on Wednesday, May 17 at Borders Books in Dearborn (noon) and on May 18 at Bookbeat in Oak Park (noon) and Shrine of the Black Madonna in Detroit (5:30 p.m.). For more information, visit http://www.elynnharris.com.

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