Ishmael Beah (born 23 November 1980)[1] is a Sierra Leonean author and human rights activist who rose to fame with his acclaimed memoir, A Long Way Gone.

Rebels invaded Beah's hometown, Mogbwemo, located in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone, and he was forced to flee.

In 1997, he fled Freetown by the help of the UNICEF due to the increasing violence and found his way to New York City, where he lived with Laura Simms, his foster mother.

He blames the addictions and the brainwashing for his violence[5] and cites them and the pressures of the army as reasons for his inability to escape on his own: "If you left, it was as good as being dead.

"[6] During a 14 February 2007 appearance on The Daily Show with host Jon Stewart, Beah said that he believed that returning to civilized society was more difficult than the act of becoming a child soldier, saying that dehumanising children is a relatively easy task.

When Freetown was overrun by the joined forces of the rebels (RUF or Revolutionary United Front) and Army of Sierra Leone in 1997 (the Army of Sierra Leone was originally fighting against the RUF), he contacted Laura Simms, whom he had met the year before in New York, and made his way to the United States.

"[6]In 2009, the 29-year-old traveled home to Sierra Leone with an ABC News camera, a return that he describes as bittersweet.

[15] On January 24, 2020, Beah spoke, together with Romeo Dallaire and Omar Khadr, at a conference at Dalhousie University, on human rights and child soldiers.

[17] A "deeply affecting novel",[18] Little Family tells the story of five young people living at the margins of society and struggling to replace the homes they have lost with the one they have created together.