Harmon, Byron 1969-

PERSONAL: Born July 20, 1969, in Lake Charles, LA. Education: Attended Southern University.

ADDRESSES: Home— New York, NY. Office— CBS 2 News, 524 W. 57 St., New York, NY 10019. Agent— Lane Zachary, Zachary Shuster Harmsworth, 1776 Broadway, Ste. 1405, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: WCBS-TV, New York, NY, executive producer of Early Morning News; has also worked at television stations in Baton Rouge, LA, Tulsa, OK, and Baltimore, MD. Military service: Served in U.S. Army.

AWARDS, HONORS: Eight Emmy Awards for television work.

WRITINGS

NOVELS

All the Women I’ve Loved, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2004.

Mistakes Men Make, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Crabs in a Barrel, Agate (Chicago, IL), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: Byron Harmon, an Emmy Award-winning television producer, is the author of such novels as Mistakes Men Make and Crabs in a Barrel. Mistakes Men Make follows the trials and triumphs of Eric Swift, a former football superstar who lands his dream job as a New York City sports anchor. The charismatic bachelor quickly gets swept up in the glitz and glamour of the Big Apple, however, and becomes addicted to cocaine. With the help of his coworker, Eden Alexander, Swift attempts to regain control of his life. Mistakes Men Make is “a candid, unflattering look into the world of sports journalism,” according to Glenn Townes, writing in the Black Issues Book Review.

A luxury yacht is shipwrecked and its passengers stranded on a remote island in Crabs in a Barrel. The diverse group of African American passengers, including a waitress, a corporate lawyer, a comedian, and a drug dealer, must depend on each other for survival, but their varied social and economic backgrounds threaten to tear them apart. As the days pass, the storm that forced the crew onto the island develops into a Category Three hurricane. When the Coast Guard calls off its search because of the approaching storm, the father of one of the passengers enlists a friend’s help to find the castaways. A critic in Kirkus Reviews praised “the clever interweaving of [the] subplot.”

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES

PERIODICALS

Black Issues Book Review, January-February, 2006, Glenn Townes, review of Mistakes Men Make, p. 61.

Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2006, review of Crabs in a Barrel, p. 592.

ONLINE

Byron Harmon’s Home Page, http://www.byronharmon.com (January 15, 2007).*