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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

Little Family
by Ishmael Beah - Fiction

Hidden away from a harsh outside world, five young people have improvised a home in an abandoned airplane, a relic of their country’s tumultuous past. Elimane, the bookworm, is as street-smart as he is wise. Clever Khoudiemata maneuvers to keep the younger kids --- athletic, pragmatic Ndevui, thoughtful Kpindi, and especially their newest member, Namsa --- safe and fed. When Elimane makes himself of service to the shadowy William Handkerchief, it seems as if the little family may be able to keep the world at bay and their household intact. But when Khoudi comes under the spell of the “beautiful people” --- the fortunate sons and daughters of the elite --- the desire to resume an interrupted coming of age and follow her own destiny proves impossible to resist.

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.