Best-selling author E. Lynn Harris has died. The former IBM executive just celebrated his 54th birthday on June 20, and was on tour, promoting his 11th novel, Basketball Jones, which involved an NBA player and his gay lover.

Since bursting on the scene in the early 1990s with his seminal tome Invisible Life, E. Lynn Harris steadily wrote page-turner after page-turner. His biggest fan base were women.

With more than four million books in print, he originated as a self-published author—setting the blueprint for independent authors getting picked up by major book publishers. “I think I’ve been a success because I write about things I’m passionate about and have something to say,” he told BlackVoices.com last year. “I think people relate to me because they know I relate to them.”

A longtime author for Random House, his titles include Just As I Am, And This Too Shall Pass, Abide With Me, and his 2004 memoir What Becomes of The Brokenhearted.  Harris’ books dealt with black, gay culture.

Most recently, the Detroit native served as a visiting professor for the English department at the University of Arkansas.

Text excerpted from Black Voices Newswire

Thanks to Jennifer Jones for suggesting this article.