Freedom in this Village Twenty-Five Years of Black Gay Men's Writing

by E. Lynn Harris

Freedom in This Village charts for the first time ever the innovative course of black gay male literature of the past 25 years. Starting in 1979 with the publication of James Baldwin's final novel, Just Above My Head, then on to the radical writings of the 1980s, the breakthrough successes of the 1990s, and up to today's new works, editor E. Lynn Harris collects 47 sensational stories, poems, novel excerpts, and essays. Authors featured include Samuel R. Delany, Essex Hemphill, Melvin Dixon, Marlon Riggs, Assotto Saint, Larry Duplechan, Reginald Shepherd, Carl Phillips, Keith Boykin, Randall Kenan, Thomas Glave, James Earl Hardy, Darieck Scott, Gary Fisher, Bruce Morrow, John Keene, G. Winston James, Bil Wright, Robert Reid Pharr, Brian Keith Jackson, as well as an array of exciting new and established writers.

Genres: LGBT, Poetry, Queer, Anthologies, Gay

461 pages, Paperback

First published November 9, 2004

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 published Invisible Life as a trade paperback in 1994, and thus his career as an author officially began.

Invisible Life was followed by Just 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), and Mama Dearest(2009),all published by Doubleday, and In My Father's House(2010), published by St. Martin's Press. Ten of Harris's novels hit the New York Times bestseller list, and his books have also appeared on the bestseller lists of the Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. In 2003, Harris published his first work of nonfiction, a memoir entitled What Becomes of the Brokenhearted, which was also a New York Times bestseller. Today, there are more than four million copies of his books in print.

Harris's writing also appeared in Essence, Washington Post Sunday Magazine, and Sports Illustrated, as well as in the award-winning anthology Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America, Go The Way Your Blood Beats. His novella, "Money Can't Buy Me Love" was published in Got 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 in Gumbo: 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 Am was awarded the Novel of the Year Prize by the Blackboard African-American Bestsellers, Inc. If This World Were Mine was nominated for a NAACP Image Award and won the James Baldwin Award for Literary Excellence. Abide with Me was also nominated for a NAACP Image Award. His anthology Freedom in this Village won 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 to Ebony's "Most Intriguing Blacks" list, Out Magazine's "Out 100" list, New York Magazine's "Gay Power 101" list, and Savoy'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.

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Reviews

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a wonderful collection of short stories by the Black Gay writers of the 20th century. Most of the authors I knew from multiple organizations I belonged too. Some are still alive, but most are long gone. These writers revived my interest in writing my own book.

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freedom in this Village Twenty-Five Years of Black Gay Men's Writing is a collection of short stories, poems, novel excerpts, and personal essays assembled and edited by E. Lynn Harris. It is an anthology of black gay male literature within a quarter century (1979–2004).

For the most part, I really like these contributions. Harris has collected forty-seven contributions from various authors and artists from the black gay male persuasion. Numerous writings from black gay men are included from the notable to the more obscure.

Like most anthologies, there are weaker contributions and Freedom in this Village Twenty-Five Years of Black Gay Men's Writing is no exception. Some contribution was written better than others – comparatively speaking and like always the poetry gave me a slight problem, but it didn't quell my enjoyment from the anthology.

All in all, Freedom in this Village Twenty-Five Years of Black Gay Men's Writing is a wonderful collection of short stories, poems, novel excerpts, and personal essays about growing up as a black gay man within a quarter century.

[Michael Pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me six years to read this book and in that time my thoughts and beliefs on identity have continued to ebb. There are moments when I think we should be aiming for a post identity world but then I read books like this so full of vital creativity of commonality. I loved it. Special mention to the HIV years when so many were lost and so easily forgotten in our world of easier meds and Prep.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly readable collection of energetic writing styles, brought to the forefront of literature in a generation that is only just beginning to realise the distance we still have to cover as a species to recognise multitudes of sexual diversity beyond the white person's gaze.

[Christian Timpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of short stories and essays depicting the life and struggles of a double minority. But it's not all about hardships, it also has stories about joys and triumphs. Overall fantastic.

[Darryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stories.