Ishmael Beah was born in Sierra Leone on November 23, 1980. Ishmael lived a fairly happy life in Sierra Leone until the civil war broke out and like other civilians, he is forced to run for his life and was forced to be separated from his family. He is the protagonist of the book A Long Way Gone and he is central to understanding the horrors of war in Sierra Leone, because he became a boy soldier. Ishmael lost his mother, father, and his two brothers to murder by the revels. He moved to the United States in 1998 after he was rescued from being a child soldier at the age of sixteen by the UNICEF. He finished his last two years of high school at the United Nations International School in New York. In 2004 he graduated from the Oberlin College with a B.A. in political science. He is a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division Advisory Committee. Has spoken before the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities (CETO) at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, and many other NGO panels on children affected by war. He has also spoken before the United Nations on several occasions. His work has appeared in Vespertine Press and LIT magazine. He lives in New York City.

“In the sky there are always answers and explanations for everything: every pain, every suffering, joy and confusion.”
― Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone

  Quote

“This is one of the consequences of the civil war. People stop trusting each other, and every stranger becomes an enemy.” 
~Here Ishmael emphasizes how relationships with other people became corrupted as the result of war.

Praise to the book

“Everyone in the world should read this book. Not just because it contains an amazing story, or because it’s our moral, bleeding-heart duty, or because it’s clearly written. We should read it to learn about the world and about what it means to be human.” —Washington Post

"My high school friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life".

Friend : “Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”

Ishmael : “Because there is a war.”

Friend : “Did you witness some of the fighting?”

Ishmael : “Everyone in the country did.”

Friend : “You mean you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?”

Ishmael : “Yes, all the time.”

Friend : “Cool.”

Ishmael : I smile a little.

Friend : “You should tell us about it sometime.”

Ishmael : “Yes, sometime.”