Best-Selling Author E. Lynn Harris Dies

Author E. Lynn Harris died Friday at 54 years old, EW.com reports.

Harris was the author of 11 novels, including a memoir, all but one of which made the New York Times best-seller list. The New York Daily News reports that he self-published his first novel, "Invisible Life," in 1991, which turned out to be a surprise hit. The majority of his books deal with the issues facing African-American homosexuals within their own communities, such as feeling pressured to keep their sexual orientation a secret.

Harris commented on this, saying, "If you were African American and you were gay, you kept your mouth shut and you went on and did what everybody else did," he said. "You had girlfriends, you lived a life that your parents had dreamed for you," the Associated Press reports.

His books include "Love of My Own," "Too Good to Be True" and "Basketball Jones," which he was promoting on the West Coast when he died.