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Ishmael Beah

Biography

Ishmael Beah

Ishmael Beah is the Sierra Leonean and American author of the novels RADIANCE OF TOMORROW and LITTLE FAMILY, and the memoir A LONG WAY GONE, which was a #1 New York Times bestseller and has been published in more than 40 languages. A UNICEF Ambassador and Advocate for Children Affected by War, and a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Advisory Committee, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their children.

Ishmael Beah

Books by Ishmael Beah

Radiance of Tomorrow
by Ishmael Beah - Fiction

Benjamin and Bockarie are two longtime friends who return to their hometown of Imperi after the civil war in Sierra Leone. As more villagers begin coming back, they try to forge a new community by taking up their former posts as teachers, but they’re beset by such obstacles as a scarcity of food and a rash of murders, thievery, rape and retaliation. As Benjamin and Bockarie search for a way to restore order, they’re forced to reckon with the uncertainty of their past and future alike.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
by Ishmael Beah - Nonfiction

In A LONG WAY GONE, Ishmael Beah tells a riveting story: how at the age of 12, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By 13, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah --- at heart a gentle boy --- found that he was capable of truly terrible acts.