Q & A with E Lynn Harris

Recently you won the Poets & Writers for Writing Award for work with your E. Lynn Harris Better Days Foundation. How is that going?

The undertaking of a foundation has been a bigger job than I ever could have imagined. There are a lot of people out there with dreams of writing, I wish that I could reach each of them individually. This year, I have learned that is impossible.

Along with the board of directors, I am trying to figure out how we can best meet the needs of the community we set out to serve and I expect major announcements during the year 2003.

Showtime recently purchased INVISIBLE LIFE and JUST AS I AM for the silver screen. Can you tell us when to expect the movies to hit theaters and who the cast may be?

Right now these projects are in the planning stages. We are still working on the script and combining the two books into one feature.

Rumor has it that you recently made your Broadway debut. Can we expect an encore?

Being a part of the 20th anniversary production of DREAM GIRLS was a dream come true. It was a magical night, but it was for one night only!

Last summer's tour took you all over the country to promote the best-selling ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS. We know you always enjoy meeting your fans, can you tell us about some of the highlights?

Meeting fans in different cities is always a highlight. I fondly recall being on stage in Atlanta and questioned by a local television anchor. It was a warm and receptive crowd; my mom and aunt were there. Atlanta always feels like home.

Also, looking back, New York was exciting and now a bit melancholy because I started my tour at the Borders in the World Trade Center. I will miss that store.

I'm usually tired at the end of my tours, but somehow when I hit Seattle and the Bay Area the fans seem to lift me up. This year, maybe they wont have to since they are at the beginning of the tour.

The www.elynnharris.com site has new feature E LYNN CONFIDENTIAL. Give us the scoop on this new section?

We created this as a way to keep fans up to date on exciting news during the tour. Also, it's a new way of sharing the things they wont see in newspapers and magazines-and maybe enough information to stop the questions about the memoir.

You recently moved to New York City and you touch on the sad events of 9/11 in your latest novel A LOVE OF MY OWN. Do you have any words on the recent tragedy as a new New Yorker?

Like everyone, not only New Yorkers, I was saddened by the events of September 11th. But still hope these events will make us stronger as people and as a country.

In A LOVE OF MY OWN, we meet Zola Denise Norwood, the talented and ambitious editor-in-chief of Bling, Bling? Can you tell us about your inspiration for Bling,Bling and why you chose the world of magazine publishing for this new novel?

The title Bling, Bling just came to me. I thought it was funny and humorous and that insiders would know what it meant. As a teenager, I used to think I wanted to run a magazine. By creating the character of Zola I have been able to do that over the last six months.

Zola's career experiences some ups and downs during A LOVE OF MY OWN. Can you tell us what you would like readers to learn from Zola's experience as a black woman in business?

Some of the African American women who I am acquainted with sometimes make being in a leadership role look very easy, but through my conversations and a little research I learned that other areas of their lives suffer. Each of us, no matter what our color or gender, are struggling to create a balanced life. We often ponder and ask our selves if we can have it all. Right now, I'd have to say maybe not.

That is not necessarily a bad thing. I think it forces us to focus on the things we often take for granted, decide what we really want from life and realize that we have the power to control our lives-work and personal.

Each of the characters in the book are searching for some deeper meaning in their life. Can you tell us how the title A LOVE OF MY OWN ties into your signature themes of love, family and friendship and why these are such important issues for you?

I was at a book signing last year in Dearborn MI (also one of my favorite stops on the tour) when a women asked me how I felt about love. I realized at that moment, that our search for love is something that we all have in common. It wasn't gender, or race restricted. Each of us, at some point in our life, wants and deserves a love of our own that is true, honest, and as close to perfect as we can hope for.

The first time many of us experience this love is often from the unconditional love provided by family. We then learn a different kind of love from friends and people we choose to bring into our life. Hopefully, we all experience that make your head spin kind of love!

In October, the new HARLEM MOON imprint will be publishing GUMBO, a collection of short stories edited by you and Marita Golden. Can you tell us a little more about this project and what it was like to wear the editors hat for a change?


I'm very excited about this project. All the proceeds will go to the Hurston-Wright Foundation. This is an organization I'm proud to be part of (and serve on the board of directors for) because it encourages new and unpublished writers by granting awards and running workshops during the summer.

We've gotten submissions from a great majority of published African American writers from people like Terry MacMillan, RM Johnson, and several new writers whose first foray into publishing is yet to come.

On being the editor, this was just a matter of contacting my friends in the publishing industry and asking for their written contributions. I knew they would only give us their best. I know people will enjoy GUMBO as they did BREAKING THE ICE, the anthology edited by Terry McMillan over a decade ago.

Broadway, a film debut and your eighth novel.....you never stop! What new surprises can we expect next from the ever-talented Mr. Harris?

One never knows, does one...