Contributors

A     B     C     D     E     F     G     H     I     J     K     L     M     N     O     P     Q     R     S     T     U     V     W     X     Y     Z

Hyphenated last names are listed by first intial in the original order beginning with surname.

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Eva Acqui, Ph.D, lives and works in Baia Sprie, Romania. She is a university lecturer, translator, award winning poet, fiction writer, and scholarly writer of feature articles and scientific papers.

Kwame Ahenakwah is a member of the Liberian Association of Writers (LAW).

Shariff Ashanti is the pen name of Anthony Morgan, poet and essayist (among other occupations). He lives in New York City and is completing two books on Liberian history.

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Gerald “Gee-Bee” K. Barclay is a writer, director, producer, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He studied television and video production at City University of New York. He has worked as a Production Assistant on the movie, King of New York; as an intern with Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks on the movie Jungle Fever; as an assistant at Miramax; and with Academy Award nominee and Emmy-winner Director Anthony Lover at Liberty Studios. As an independent director, he has directed and produced commercials and dozens of Hip Hop music videos, including Wu-Tang’s METHOD Man and Mystery of Chess Boxing, and Heather B’s If Heads Only Knew. In collaboration with Master P’s No Limit Films, he directed video clips for Hip Hop artists such as Snoop Dogg, Silkk The Shocker, Mistikal, Big Pun, Cappadonna, Bounty Killa, The Cocoa Brovaz and Nona Hendrix. Gerald’s first full-length feature film Bloody Streetz was released by Artisan Entertainment and won the 2002 Pan-African Film Festival Vision Award. His 2004 documentary, Liberia: The Love of Libery Brought Us Here, was an Official Selection of the 2005 American Black Film Festival. His partnership with Hush Hush Studios in Ghana and the Hip Life movement there has ignited a desire in him to teach and mentor aspiring filmmakers and videographers in Liberia. He is a member of the Black Filmmakers Foundation. Gerald runs his own independent film and video production company, Gee-Bee Productions. Website

Keith Neville Asumuyaya Best is a poet, essayist, journalist, and author. Keith was the founding editor-in-chief of The Revelation, a social, political and cultural monthly newsmagazine that appeared in 1973 and set the pace for an era of radical free speech, independent thought, and literary intellectualism that dynamized Monrovia and sent electrifying sparks throughout Liberia. The New York Times referenced The Revelation in the early 1970s as one of the most important developments in Liberia’s recent history. Keith was imprisoned on a number of occasions during the 1970s for his political activism and journalistic activities. He was the first president of the Liberian Association of Writers (LAW), founded in 1984 on his proposal. From 1981-84, he served as chief reporter, editorialist and leading columnist for his family-owned Daily Observer newspaper. He was the publisher of the Liberia Action Party’s first official news organ, Co-Co-Leo-Coo, whose reformist commentaries energized the body politic in 1985. He was appointed legal counsel to the Press Union of Liberia in 1985. Keith developed and produced various radio programs and investigative reports for the Liberian Broadcasting Corporation from the 1970s through the 80s, including the popular programs “Living in Monrovia,” “Sporting Magazine,” “High School Reporter,” and his prescient exposé broadcasted in the early 70s on the rise of sexual exploitation and prostitution. Keith was mentored by his uncle, Albert Porte, whose papers he proofread, and whose impassioned dissident writings sharpened Keith’s critical consciousness. In 2001, he launched and edited the Staten Island Chronicle, a monthly community paper, in Staten Island, New York. His first book, the collection of poems, Education for the Masses, was published in 1976 and used as a text at the University of Liberia. He published the study, The Other Side of Roots: Liberia - Chronicle of Self-Destruction Foretold, in 1993. His book due out in 2007 is called The Politics of Poverty: Challenges to the U.S. in the Era of Terror - The Case of Liberia. He is also at work on his autobiography and memoir. Keith holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a Minor in English from the University of Liberia, 1980; and a Bachelor of Law from the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, Liberia, 1984. Keith is a former world-class table tennis player. He gained legendary status as a pool player, wresting control of Lebanese domination of the sport both as a player and promoter. He lives with his four children in Los Angeles, California, USA. Website

David Barouski, Guest Writer, is a writer and researcher on geopolitical issues with an emphasis on Central Africa. Email

Doeba Bropleh is a graduate of St. Patrick’s High School, Monrovia. His evolving writing and photographic styles are meant to “evoke a certain realm of self that reveals and revels in the beauty of Africa.” A solo exhibition of his photography accompanied Esailama Diouf’s dance theatre production “Sauce Roux” at the University of California (Davis Campus, 2002). Several of his black and white prints of Liberian beach scenes were displayed at the 2006 Spring Photo Exhibition at the Photo Central Gallery in Hayward, California. His photography has also been in several group shows in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has participated in poetry readings at venues in Oakland, California. Doeba is the immediate past president of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity’s Graduate Chapter, Sacramento, California. He is a board member of the Margaret Okari Children’s Foundation, which provides schooling and shelter for AIDS-orphaned children in Africa (www.okarichildren.org), and is also a member of the Association of Citizens and Friends of Liberia (www.acfli.org). In addition, he is a supporter of the Children Rescue Center, which provides food and shelter for children orphaned by Liberia’s recent civil war. He holds a Master in Business Administration (MBA).

Aaron Fallah Brown (May 18, 1952 - April 29, 2007) was an architect, metal sculptor, wood sculptor, painter, industrial designer, engineer, cartoonist, poet, philosopher and professor. He is widely considered to be one of Liberia’s greatest and most popular artists of all time, to date.

Robert H. Brown, Ph.D, was born in Liberia. He has a Ph.D in Language and Linguistics from the University of Essex, Essex, UK. He is a former Professor of English at the University of Liberia. He has published several short stories in Short Story International and is a prolific writer of scholarly articles and book reviews. He presently teaches in Leicestershire, UK.

Cameron Browne was born in 1991, in Washington, DC. His father is a black American, and his mother, Mona Browne, is a native Liberian who migrated to the United States in 1980. His maternal great-grandfather, John Frances Marshall, was from Barbados. Cameron is an eleventh grade student at a private high school in Alexandria, Virginia, USA. He has had many of his poems published in Fire and Stones, a literary magazine containing the works of other students in his school. Cameron has traveled all over the world, to places such as France, Kenya, and even the politically torn nation of Romania. Cameron is very grateful for the things that God has blessed him and he is looking forward to the beautiful future that lies ahead of him.

Milly Buchanan was born in Monrovia, Liberia, in 1944. She is the mother of five children and twenty grandchildren. She’s a painter, an architect, a translator and an interpreter of five languages, and a former international model. She’s also a founding member of the Union of Liberian Artists. Her unique style, which she calls Afro-Cubism, combines her love of Picasso’s, Braque’s and Modigliani’s work with a vibrant African palette and a shattered-glass art expressiveness which depicts the “multifaceted emotions, experience and aspirations that we all have; the distorted but beautiful images we see in this world.” Milly specifies being influenced by “the African concept of Self-meaning one’s self within one’s tribe, and one’s culture and land.” She is provoked by “the culturally uprooted society in Liberia . . . the practice of converting villagers to a false process of democratization,” and the “internal conflict of Christian worship versus ancestral spirituality.” She lives in Kenya. Email

Carl Patrick Burrowes, Ph.D, grew up on Bushrod Island, Liberia, in the shade of a giant cotton tree surrounded by mangoes, guavas, soursops, breadfruits, pawpaws, and bananas, with the constant aroma of coffee from the roastery operated by his parents. There, he developed a passion for poetry, which led to the practice of journalism, then to a love of historical research. Poet, journalist, historian, scholar, and professor, his research interests are African press history and policy, and the history of government-civil society relations, with a particular focus on Liberia. He is the author of Power and Press Freedom in Liberia, 1830 to 1970 (Trenton: Africa World Press, 2005) and co-author of the Historical Dictionary of Liberia (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2001). His many scholarly articles and other writings have been published in a variety of media including The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Milwaukee Journal, Essence Magazine, West Africa Magazine, New African Magazine, Emerge Magazine, Journalism & Mass Communication Monographs, Communication Theory, The Liberian Studies Journal, Liberia Forum (Germany), Mass Comm & Society, and Journalism & Mass. He is Associate Professor of Communications and Humanities at Penn State, Harrisburg, USA.

Earl D. Burrowes, Sr. is a poet whose family emigrated from Jamaica. He works in the technological field and lives in the African Diaspora of North America.

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Horace Campbell, Ph.D, Guest Writer, is a professor of African and Caribbean Studies in the departments of African American Studies and Political Science at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. He is the author of the books, Reclaiming Zimbabwe: The Exhaustion of the Patriarchal Model of Liberation (published by David Phillip of South Africa and Africa World Press, 2003), and Rasta and Resistance: From Marcus Garvey to Walter Rodney (Africa World Press, 1987, going through its fifth edition). Campbell has been an active member of the Pan African Association of Political Science; a member of the African Studies Association (ASA) of the USA; a member of the African Association of Political Science; and a member of the editorial collective of the African World Review, a Pan African intellectual voice of the Africa Research and Informational Bulletin in London, UK. He is chairperson of the International Caucus of the Black Radical Congress. Campbell was educated in the Caribbean, Canada, Uganda and the United Kingdom. Before teaching at Syracuse University, Horace Campbell was at Northwestern University in Evanston and for six years at the University of Dar Es Salaam. Campbell is also part of the militarism Research network of CODERSIA based in Dakar, Senegal. Horace Campbell was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica. He is married to Makini, Zaline Roy who is one of the coordinators of the Pan African Women Liberation Organization.

Doughba Carmo Caranda is a graduate of the University of Liberia. He has a wide spectrum of cultural, artistic, music, media and sports experience both nationally and internationally. He worked for the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism in the mid-1970s. He also served as Cultural Research Officer and was the Official Promoter of the Liberian National Cultural Troupe during the same period. He was part of a U.S. Smithsonian Institute sponsored Liberian National Cultural delegation of leading traditional artists invited to the American Bicentennial Celebrations in Washington, DC. He was the Promoter and Master of Ceremony for all major cultural presentations during their tour of seven U.S. cities. Doughba was an official member, Presenter and Performing Artist, along with a contingent of Liberian Performers, to the great landmark experience in Africa’s post-colonial cultural history, FESTAC ‘77, held in Lagos, Nigeria. He served as radio and television director, broadcaster and producer for the Liberia Broadcasting System from 1980-90. He pioneered three major AM and FM radio programs, “Roots,” “Sounds of Liberia,” and “Music is the Message,” designed to educate, entertain, enlighten and foster cultural awareness and national unity. He was best known for his popular television production, “Heritage.” In 1980, Doughba organized the “Kabasa Music Group” to promote the music, image and originality of Liberian musicians. By the year 2000, the Kabasa music concept evolved into an international production company based in the USA. Doughba is a devout “Servant-Leader” of the Liberia Legacy Foundation (LLF) based in Atlanta, Georgia, an organization devoted to African Culture and Education with a vision for Cultural Institution Building in Liberia. He has traveled widely to broaden his knowledge of other cultures and nations, including the Ivory Coast, Ghana, East and West Germany, Japan, England and France. Along with Charles Synclair Neal III and George Dunbar Knuckles, Sr., Doughba produced “The Liberia Palmwine Experience” in two volumes in 2002 and 2004, compilations in Liberian English, Vai and Bassa of memorable Liberian folk songs, children’s ring songs, with popular dancehall tunes of the 50s, 60s and 70s. Doughba is the son of Master Teacher/Healer Zoe Doughba Carmo Caranda I. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Audrey Carey-Haick is a homemaker and published writer/poet. She was born in Monrovia, Liberia, to Roland and Ayeko Carey and is one of seven siblings. Prior to leaving Liberia, she attended St. Teresa’s Convent and worked as administrative assistant to Archbishop Michael K. Francis in the Archdiocese of Monrovia. She lives with her family in Germantown, Maryland, USA.

Peter Cole began his life in Gbarnga City, Bong County. His parents, Mr. & Mrs. Nagbe Barchue Cole were natural musicians, playing and singing in a local Methodist church, where Peter was actively involved in the choir. Peter learned to play the guitar at age eight. In 1983, he won a scholarship to the St. Martin High School in Bong County, and later attended St. Patrick’s High School in Monrovia. By then, he was already a recording artist while running a music program at the Catholic Mission in Matadi Estate, Monrovia. He composed, arranged and sang the graduating class song at the Sacred Heart Cathedral. Shortly before Peter’s graduation, he became both a trainer and leader of the Don Bosco Beat Band, where he taught young people the beauty of music as opposed to the ugly sounds of guns. His first recording at that time was a testament of his philosophy, “Stay Alive.” The album was titled “Be Awake.” His song “Stay Alive” is the title track of his 2007 album produced by Senegal’s Youssou N’Dour. At the Catholic Mission in New Matadi Estate, Papa Wemba, Youssous N’Dour, and Labaja were in a live documentary concert with the Bosco Beat Band. The concert was a protest against the proliferation of wars in Africa and the world over. During the concert, Senegalese superstar, Youssous N’Dour, became greatly thrilled by Peter’s vocals and later promised to work with him. Today Peter is one of the principle musicians in Youssous’ studio, engaged in composition, arrangement and live playing. In 2001, Peter contributed three songs to the United Nation High Commission for Refugees’ Building Bridges CD, and participated in the European tour that covered five countries in Europe France, England, Switzerland, Holland and Belgium to raise funds for the education of refugee children. Peter Cole is an experienced musician and a multi-instrumentalist. He reads and writes music and plays the guitar, keyboard and bass. He is an arranger, composer, lyricist and public speaker. His dream is to work for humanity, through his music. He believes very strongly that music is the one universal language that transcends creed, color, race and ethnicity.

Elvira Cooper has her roots in beautiful Cape Palmas in Maryland County. She has extensive experience in the publicity, promotion, marketing, and distribution of literature, as well as in editing literary manuscripts and book proposals. Her interest in literature and publishing was heightened when she worked with Djana Pearson Morris, literary agent with the Pearson Morris & Belt Literary Management Agency, on Chimamanda Adichie’s wildly successful novel, Purple Hibiscus. She is also a professional eMedia marketer and web content editor. Her volunteer work exemplifies an extraordinary dedication and passion for books, literature and the arts. She has volunteered with and attended workshops at Karibu Books, Politics and Prose, Vertigo Books, the Bethesda Writers Center, and George Washington University’s publishing program. She’s also volunteered her time to do research, editing, marketing and much needed hand-holding support for friends who are writers, poets, and visual artists. She loves to read, has a deep appreciation for the wealth of talent coming from Liberia, loves all Liberian art forms, and considers herself to be a strong champion, supporter and all around cheerleader for the literati. She lives in Washington, DC, USA.

Jeanine M. Cooper works for the United Nations as a Humanitarian Affairs Officer, OCHA Regional Support Office, Central & Eastern Africa.

Sarah A. Hayes Cooper is a member of the Liberian Writers Association (LAW), based in Liberia.

Vincent O. Cooper is a Professor of English and Linguistics at the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. He is also a published poet and literary critic. His literary work has appeared in international journals in the Caribbean, the United States, Canada, and Europe. His poetry has appeared in such journals as Kunapipi, Journal of Caribbean Literature, and The Caribbean Writer.

Jolanda Cornish, Guest Writer, is a doctoral student of Literature at the University of Maryland, College Park.

George E. Crayton - An entrepreneur, George Crayton embodies 12 years of tactical technical expertise and executive business management.  His accomplishments include: building a multi-million dollar managed service technology business; successful large-scale network deployments for AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Visa International, Wachovia, BMW Automotive, Johnson Controls and Sony Electronics. His IT expertise grew from leading technology mergers and acquisitions for Fortune 50-500 corporations and he is knowledgeable in Voice/Data Backbones, Media, CRM Application, SAS, disaster recovery, Business Develop, Online services, & Consulting . He is also an active member of the Information Technology Senior Management Forum which consists of 150 CIOs and CEOs of Fortune 50-500 corporations. Mr. Crayton enjoys creative writing and art.

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Charlina Daitouah-Smith is a graduate of St. Teresa’s Convent High School, the Computer Services Inc. School, and the Royal Institute of Secretarial Science. Charlina’s poetry has been published in Liberia’s Funtimes Magazine and read on Liberian radio by broadcaster Volcano Shelton. She is a student of Economics at the University of Liberia with plans to pursue a second degree in Theology toward becoming a full-time pastor, and a third degree in English. Passionate about her poetry, she affirms: “writing for me is a ‘hiding place,’ a safe retreat from the rest of the world where I can be with myself, let all my guards down, relax, and just be me.”

Wade’ Dennis was born in Monrovia and currently resides in the United States. She holds a Bachelors degree in English and History from the University of Virginia and is currently pursuing a law degree.

Rachel Gbenyon Diggs served as Liberia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States from 1997-99. She came to the United States in 1980 escaping brutal persecution from the military dictatorship. She worked as a community leader and activist with several Liberian groups, lobbying the United States Congress to withhold aid to the repressive Doe regime. A legacy of her service is the restoration of the Chancery of the Liberian Embassy in Washington, DC, fire-bombed during the civil crisis. Her professional experience includes 12 years at The World Bank in Washington, DC, where she served as Research Analyst in the Offices of the Director of International Relations, Strategic Planning, and External Affairs. She also worked as a member of the core team promoting expanded collaboration between the Bank and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which led to the creation of a World Bank grant fund for NGOs to underwrite grants for small-scale projects in the poorer developing countries. At the outset of her career, she served as Staff Assistant in the Office of the Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva, Switzerland. In Liberia, she served as Chief of Staff to the Minister of Finance. In 1993, she founded and served as President and Chief Executive Officer of a Virginia-based consulting and events-planning firm until her preferment as ambassador. She has worked assiduously with local advocacy groups to help forge a more equitable US policy toward Africa. As a special assignment with the Washington Office on Africa, she coordinated a major conference of African advocacy groups to develop concrete partnerships in building a stronger constituency for Africa. As a member of the African Ambassadors Group, she traveled extensively throughout the United States to build support for the passage of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, the first US-Africa trade agreement. She represented the State of Virginia as a delegate to the 2000 National Summit on Africa, and served on the Board of the Virginia Coalition for Africa as Vice President for External Relations. In March 2000, she received the Howard University Community Relations Achievement Award for outstanding efforts in community outreach programs. Since relocating to Nashville, Tennessee, in August 2000, she has become involved in many community programs: Tying Nashville Together, Habitat for Humanity, and Adult Literacy. She has worked as a volunteer ESL (English as a second language) tutor at the Cohn Adult Center and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Sister Cities of Nashville. She is also involved in AIDS advocacy. Her essay “África’s  Children: A Dying Breed” appears in the book, The aWake Project: Uniting Against the African AIDS Crisis; other contributors include Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Rachel Gbenyon Diggs holds a degree in translation from the University of Geneva, School of Interpreters. She is fluent in English, French and German and also speaks Italian and Russian. In 1962, she was joined in wedlock to Dr. Joseph Diggs. They have five sons.

yassira l. diggs is a freelance writer living in New York City.

Esailama Diouf, since 1989, has been a member of Oakland-based Diamano Coura West African Dance Company, founded in 1975 by Emmy Award winner Dr. Zakariya Diouf and choreographer, Naomi Gedo Johnson-Diouf.  Esailama has also worked with choreographers and directors in the United States from various genres of African-derived dance theatre including the late Dr. Pearl Primus and Kemoko Sano and theatre companies such as the Ballet Folklorico de Bahia, Les Ballets Africaines, and the Liberian National Cultural Troupe.  Internationally, she has worked with director John Martin (London) and such performing companies as Le Ballet National du Sénégal (Senegal), Theatre for Africa (South Africa) and Abhinaya Theatre Research Centre (India).  She is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Performance Studies at Northwestern University. 

Jestina Doe-Anderson, Ph.D, is a pharmacologist. Along with her work as a research scientist, she has a passion for writing, particularly about issues pertaining to the rights of women and children.

Emmanuel Dolo, Ph.D, is the Director of Educational Equity and Integration at South Washington County Schools in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. He is the author of Democracy Versus Dictatorship: the quest for freedom and justice in Africa’s oldest republic (1996), University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland. His articles have appeared in a variety of publications including The Journal of Social Work Research and Evaluation, and the Liberian electronic journals The Perspective and Frontpage Africa. His forthcoming book, The Role of Ethnocentric Nationalism in Fomenting Liberia’s National Identity Crisis, will be published by Africana Homestead Publishers. He lives with his wife and children in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, USA.

Obed W. Dolo is a physician practicing in Ghana. He is a published poet and the author of the novel, Dare to Forgive, scheduled to be released in 2006 by Village Tales Publishers.

Carrza DuBose, Guest Writer, is a writer, editor, and researcher. He received a BA in Chemistry in 2000 from Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee. Carrza holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Spalding University, Louisville, Kentucky, and is a doctoral candidate in English. He is an adjunct faculty member in the English department at the University of the District of Columbia. An excerpt from his novel-in-progress, Fly Brown, has been accepted for publication in the forthcoming anthology edited by author Crystal Wilkinson, Down Home: A Portrait of the New African American South. A son of Detroit, he lives, plays, and writes in Washington, DC, USA.

Abdoulaye W. Dukulé, Ph.D, is a journalist and creative writer. He holds a BA in Linguistics & Literature from the University of Sherbrooke, Canada; and the MA and Ph.D in Literature & Film Studies and Communications, University of Illinois. He is founder of the Africa Journal, has written and directed documentaries, and taught at St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY; the University of Liberia; and Lincoln Academy, Kansas City. He lives in Washington, DC.

Worlea Saywah Dunah is a member of the Liberian Association of Writers, RL.

D. Elwood Dunn, Ph.D., is a tenured Professor of Political Science at Sewanee: The University of the South (Tennessee). He recieved his B.A. from Cuttington College and the M.A. from American University. Dunn chaired Sewanee’s Department of Political Science for four years and has taught at Seton Hall and Fordham universities, Cuttington College, and the University of Liberia. He served in the government of Liberia from 1974 through1980 variously as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Director of the Cabinet, and Minister of State for Presidential Affairs. In addition to numerous published articles, he is the author or co-author of six books on Liberia, among them The Foreign Policy of Liberia During the Tubman Era (1979); Liberia: A National Polity in Transition (1988), Historical Dictionary of Liberia (1985 & 2001); Liberia” in World Bibliographical Series, Volume 175 (1995); and A History of the Episcopal Church in Liberia, 1821-1980 (1992). Dunn served as editor of the Liberian Studies Journal, 1985-1995. He remains active in Liberia-related and other organizations including the Liberian Studies Association, The African Studies Association, and the Liberian Collections Project. Dunn is married to The Rev. Dr. Matilda E. G. Dunn, an Episcopal Priest, and they are parents of four grown children.

S. Kpanbayeazee Duworko, II is an instructor in the Department of English and Literature, Liberia College, University of Liberia; and Director of Training, Research and Publications of the Resource Center for Community Empowerment and Integrated Development (RECEIVE). He has published both fiction and nonfiction works. His publications include Corruption in Liberia: A Critical Analysis (2003); Studies in Liberianology: Reassessing Peacebuilding Strategies in Liberia, Volume I (2003); Composition with Ease: A Writing Textbook (2001); English with Ease: A Grammar Textbook (1999); two books of poetry, reflections (1988) and doomsday is dawning (1988); the book the unfortunate: two short stories (1988); and a book of essays, Reflections on Reconciliation and Our Political Fiamomo (1987).

James V. Dwalu hails from Grand Cape Mount County, Liberia and is a member and former president of the Liberia Association of Writers (”LAW”). He has been writing since 1985 and joined LAW in 1987. His first book for children titled OFF TO SCHOOL WE GO was published in 2004. He writes poems and stories for children and adults. He also writes plays and essays.  He is a member of the Liberia Copyright Management Board.

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Pianapue Kept Early is Adjunct Instructor in Theology and Culture/Coordinator of Global Missions at Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.

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George K. Fahnbulleh is a software developer living in Mesa, Arizona, USA. He is married to his wife of 23 years and they are raising their two children. In his spare time he writes about issues concerning Liberia that he is passionate about. Email

H. Boima Fahnbulleh, Jr., Ph.D, was educated in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Kenya and the United States. He graduated from Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone after reading philosophy, politics and history, earned a graduate degree in politics at Howard University and finished his education at George Washington University, Washington, DC, earning a doctorate in political philosophy and international politics. He has served as Minister of Education, and Minister of Foreign Affairs; is co-founder of the Movement for Justice in Africa (MOJA); and co-founder of the Popular Democratic Front, a political and military organization committed to fighting tyranny. He was a presidential candidate in 1997. He has worked in Europe and across Africa as a political and security consultant, and has written and lectured extensively on Liberian politics. Fahnbulleh serves in the Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf administration as a Presidential Advisor. His publications include The Diplomacy of Prejudice: Liberia in International Politics, 1945 - 1970, Vantage Press, 1985; and Across the Landscape: Selected Political Writings and Speeches on Liberia–1978-2001, Universal Publishers, 2004, He is editor of the anthology of Liberia’s leading social justice, human rights and political activists during the period leading up to the military coup of 1980, Voices of Protest: Liberia on the Edge, 1974-1980, Universal Publishers, 2004, and author of the novel, Behind God’s Back, Upfront Publishing, UK, 2005.

Miatta Fahnbulleh is a singer, songwriter and actress. Her artistry has influenced generations of Liberian artists as well as artists across Africa and throughout the Black World. She is a human rights activist and women’s and children’s advocate involved in multiple initiatives for West African regional peace, human rights, gender equality and educational opportunities for the African girlchild. Email

James Kokulo Fasuekoi is a Liberian, a freelance journalist and cultural artist, with strong ties to the cultural and traditional ideas of his people from the Lorma Tribe of Lofa County, Liberia. Prior to Liberia’s civil war, he worked for most of the country’s leading dailies as a reporter-photographer. Before becoming a stringer for the Associated Press in early 1993, Mr. Fasuekoi served the country’s first post-war independent daily, The Inquirer, in multiple capacities: photo editor, frontline reporter-photographer and a contributor to the paper’s features, arts and culture columns. He is known for covering dangerous assignments and was one of four reporters who interviewed Gen. Charles Julue, former head of Samuel Doe’s Presidential Guards during his seizure of the Presidential Palace in 1994. The 1997 lull in the war allowed Fasuekoi to cover the then dreadful Kamajor militia’s bush war against combined forces of the AFRC and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), in Sierra Leone. His outstanding performances in his journalism career and commitment to the promotion of Liberian Arts and Culture, both on stage and through writings, have earned him awards and special recognition from outstanding individuals and institutions in the Liberian society and abroad, among them: Liberia’s former First Lady, Jewel Howard Taylor; Press Union of Liberia, (Reporter of The Year 1994), and The Southern Institute Of African Arts, Culture and Tradition Inc., Savannah, Georgia. He presently lives at Whitehall, Pennsylvania and can be reached at boiyeadu1@hotmail.com.

Lydia S. Freeman-Johnson is a member of the Liberian Association of Writers, RL.

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Saki Golafale  was born in 1982 in  the western town of Damballah in Grand Cape Mount County, Liberia. He grew up partly in Nimba County where his parents used to work for LAMCO. He attended the St. Martin’s Episcopal School until the outbreak of the civil war in Liberia.

Saki and his family sought refuge in Sierra Leone in the early 90s, at the height of the Liberian civil war. To survive in Sierra Leone he was forced to work in diamond mines and on farms. He and his mother returned to Monrovia in 1992, where he completed his elementary education at the St. Mary’s Catholic School. Saki subsequently graduated from Arthur F. Kulah United Methodist High  School in 2002.  He entered the University of Liberia in 2004 and is currently a junior student studying chemistry with emphasis in biochemistry and food chemistry.

Saki has been writing poems since high school and hopes to write a book some day. He also practices writing the Vai script.

 

 

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Musue N. Haddad is a photojournalist, journalist and human rights advocate. She’s worked as an editorial assistant for AllAfrica Global Media; as a media consultant for the Open Society Institute for West Africa (Senegal); and as a contributer, senior staff writer, and photo editor for various news organs in Liberia, Ghana, and the United States. Among her writings, she introduced a satirical column, Dearest Mama, for The NEWS independent daily newspaper (Liberia). Her photographs have been published independently and accompanied by articles. She has organized and taken part in many photo-exhibitions on a wide range of issues. She is co-author of the book Ghanaian Funerals published in Hamburg, Germany, 1996. She has won several journalism and human rights awards from national, continental and international organizations including the Nelson Mandela Award in Photo Journalism, Ghana Institute of Journalism (1995); Photo Journalist of the Year, Press Union of Liberia (2000); the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area Human Rights award, (2001); and the Hellmann/Hammett Human Rights Watch Award (2002). Musue is pursuing a Masters of International Policy at George Washington University, Washington, DC.

Gbanabom Hallowell, Guest Writer, a Sierra Leonean writer, earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College, USA. He is the author of the collection of poems, Drumbeats of War (Author House 2004). He is an adjunct professor of English at Strayer University and three other colleges in Maryland, USA. He has just finished writing his second collection of poems and a collection of stories.

Ruby M. Harmon is a pediatrician practicing in New York, NY. Of her “poetic moves while doctoring,” she says, “My poems address everyday life with underlying political, social and economic themes from a global perspective. Poetry is such a rich, tangible/intangible, ethereal, enlightening art form for the writer and reader; so open to interpretation and yet so untouchable. With pen to paper, the possibilities are endless.”  

CoCo Harris Guest Writer, is a mother of three daughters. She has lived with her family in the Washington, D.C. metro area; Nigeria, West Africa; and Seattle, WA. She now resides in her hometown of Atlanta, GA. After receiving her Bachelor in Electrical Engineering degree from Howard University, she became a patent law professional working for the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office granting U.S. Patents for laser and electrical surgery, and was subsequently waived into the United States Patent Bar, practicing as a Registered Agent representing individuals, firms, and corporations. Dubbing herself a lifetime diarist, she has taught the art and craft of creative journal writing to individuals, organizations, and colleges by way of her SOULTALK^TM workshops since 1999. She has authored the Journal Café workbook on creative journaling. CoCo has been a contributing writer and columnist for magazines such as The Spirit and Dialogue magazines. She received her Master of Fine Arts from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky.

Joanne C. Hillhouse is an Antiguan writer and the author of the novellas The Boy from Willow Bend and Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, both published by Macmillan. Her fiction and poetry have also appeared in Ma Comere, The Caribbean Writer, Calabash, and other publications. She freelances as a writer, journalist, editorial consultant, and producer.

Asa G. Hilliard III, Ph.D, Guest Writer, historian, psychologist, and teacher, has served in Liberia as a Contractor’s Overseas Representative from San Francisco State University, 1964-68; as a Professional Staff Development Advisor for Peace Corps teachers in Liberia, 1964-66; as an Advisor in school psychology, Liberia, 1964-66; and as Acting Superintendent of the Monrovia Consolidated School System, 1966-68. He is the architect of the Monrovia Consolidated School System. He served as the Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Urban Education at Georgia State University, with joint appointments in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education. Dr. Hilliard is a founding member of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilization. Website

Geraldine McCritty Hoff reveals the exacting emotionality of the Liberian female experience and offers healing and spiritual transcendence through her art. Her style ranges from abstract forms to folk art. She works with ink and pen, acrylics, and charcoal. She is a drummer and also works as a Disc Jockey and music producer. She lives in Pennsylvania, USA.

Alexander Romeo Horton was born on August 20, 1923, Monrovia, Liberia. An international economist, banker, African statesman, scholar, educator and visionary intellectual, his public and international career spanned over half a century with distinguished achievements. He served as the first Secretary of Commerce of the Republic of Liberia; founder and first Dean of the College of Business and Public Administration of the University of Liberia; established the first Liberian-owned banking institution, the Bank of Liberia; and was the brains behind the creation of the African Development Bank (ADB) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) fund, appointed to the latter as its first Managing Director. He also served in the administration of Philadelphia’s first African-American Mayor, the Honorable W. Wilson Goode, as managing director of the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation (PCDC), serving business owners from neighborhoods of low and moderate incomes. He was the brain behind the creation of one of Philadelphia’s most successful black banks, the United Bank of Philadelphia, the only minority majority commercial banking institution in the city. A graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, he was Distinguished Lecturer in Management and a consultant to the Wharton Entrpreneurial Center. Alexander Romeo Horton passed away on December 13, 2005, Abington, Pennsylvania, USA. His book released posthumously, Memoirs of A. Romeo Horton: For Country, Africa and My People. was published by Ghana Universities Press, 2005. 

Monica Horton-Knuckles, originally an elementary educator, Monica Horton-Knuckles made a mid-life career shift to her first passion of writing and is currently senior writer for a sports and entertainment marketing and management company in Louisville, Kentucky. She is also a lyricist that contributes to the company’s multi-genre music catalog. Though born in the United States, she was inextricably implanted in Liberian soil by her father, the son of a West Virginia coal miner who served as a Methodist Missionary in Liberia for over twenty years.

Claiming Bong County as her stomping ground, she began matriculation at Cuttington University College in 1979 and returned to the United States to complete the process of attaining her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education.  With the ties that bind anchored deeply in Liberia, she returned to teach at Cuttington’s Campus School and served as a Person-in-Mission for the United Methodist Church, teaching English at Gbarnga School of Theology and Sigrum Sundar School of Home Arts. Marriage to native son, Benoni Knuckles,  added a daughter and two sons to her quiver.

“A Public Secret” is her yet unpublished poetry collection that can be viewed online at www.apublicsecret.com. The work offers her perspective of living and loving in Liberia during the period just prior to and following the 1980 coup d’état. She endeavors to share reflections of love…innocent and forbidden, and allegiance…esteemed and forsakened amidst  peace and infinite possibilities and revolution and devastating retribution.

Stephanie Horton is a writer, editor, and founder of Sea Breeze Journal. The journal has been indexed in various prestigious humanities databases (Humbul Humanities Hub, University of Oxford, Brown University, Columbia University, Stanford University, among others), including receiving an invitation to submit information for inclusion in the Modern Language Association’s International Index of Journals. She works in publishing, theatre, the women’s movement, and as an educator and literary consultant. Stephanie Horton teaches Literature and Advanced Writing at the University of the District of Columbia, also working in a private firm as a proposal writer. She is the recipient of a 2006 Arts grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women, Louisville, Kentucky; and the recipient of the 2007 Victor E. Ward Educational Fund’s Crystal Award for outstanding achievement in the Arts/Literary Works under the theme: “Liberian Women of Influence.” Stephanie Horton holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Spalding University, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

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Omari Jackson worked for the Daily Observer newspaper when the civil war broke out in 1989. He subsequently worked for several newspapers, including the New Democrat Weekly, The Sporting Life, and The News. Credited as one of the brains behind the formation of the Sports Writers Association of Liberia (SWAL), he has won several awards as a sports reporter, from the Liberia Football Association, the Press Union of Liberia and the Liberia National Olympic Committee. He covered the 1989 29th session of the International Olympic Academy in Olympia, Greece, and was in South Africa in 1996 when the Lone Star National Soccer Team made its African Cup of Nations debut appearance. Omari is a graduate of the Connecticut-based Longridge Writers Group with a focus in Creative Writing. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Dave Toh Jah and Dennis Chewlae Jah are brothers born in Doodwicken, Sinoe, Southeastern Liberia. They both graduated from Monrovia College in1986 and 1988 respectively. They published their first collaborative novel, Notebook of a Warrior, in July 2005. They both live in Pennsylvania, USA, where they are pursuing graduate degrees. Dave is studying Clinical Psychology at Lasalle University, while Dennis is pursuing his Masters in Information Systems at Drexel University. Website

Thomas Jaye, Ph.D, is a security studies specialist. He advises and provides briefings on African regional security issues to European and African governments as well as NGOs and international/regional organisations. He formerly held the position of Research Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Birmingham, UK. He is the former editor of Africa World Review (AWR), and former Director of the Africa Research and Information Bureau (ARIB). Jaye’s analytical writings on African security issues, including war to peace transitions, democratization, West African regional organizations, peacekeeping. conflict studies, democratisation, civil society and other related areas have appeared in many scholarly, research and study journals, magazines, reviews, reports, and periodicals worldwide. He is the author of Issues of Sovereignty, Strategy and Security in the ECOWAS Intervention in the Liberian Civil War, Edwin Mellen Press, 2003. Thomas Jaye holds a Ph.D in International Politics from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (UWA), with an emphasis on African regional security. He gained an MA in History from Moscow State University, with focus on the social and political ideas of Marcus Garvey. Thomas Jaye is a longstanding member of the Movement for Justice in Africa (MOJA).

Michael Jones is a physician practicing in the United States. He describes himself as “an African with great interest in the effects of social, political and economic dynamics, and how these forces have influenced and shaped the historical trajectory of Africa, and, more importantly, how we use the lessons learned from our experiences and world history as remedies to our multiple problems.”

Mohamedu F. Jones is a lawyer specializing in Liberian corporate, patent, commercial, and maritime laws, including corporate formation and governance, commercial law, intellectual property law, banking and finance laws, trade law, international transactions, and arbitration, related to matters of Liberian law. He lives in Washington, DC, working as a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. He is the senior non-resident partner of the Jones and Jones Law Firm of Monrovia, Liberia, a firm established in 1927, which is currently owned and managed by the third generation of lawyers in his family. Website

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M A K is the daughter of a Liberian mother exiled in North America. She is a student activist and organizer, a published playwright and poet, a photographer and Alternative Media reporter, and she has also acted and directed professionally.

Karamoh Kabba, Guest Writer, is from Sierra Leone. He is the author of the memoir, A Mother’s Saga: An Account of the Rebel War in Sierra Leone; and two non-fiction works: Lion Mountain: A Perilous Evolution of the Dens, and Morque: A Political Drama of Wish over Wisdom. Kabba has published several poems on the Sierra Leone Web Internet site. His poem, Poverty Amidst Gold and Diamonds appears in With Hearts Ablaze, an anthology of The International Library of Poetry. He lives with his wife Maria and children, Oscar, Kemoh and Fatima in Potomac, Maryland. Kabba is the founder, President & Chief Executive Officer of Sierra Leone Youth Lending Hand (SLYLH), a public trust institution organized to assist the youth of Sierra Leone in post-war rehabilitation in the areas of education, health and trauma counseling.

Laura Wede Kai has had an evolving career in the domestic and international humanitarian sector. As an advocate for social change, she served as Communications Director for ACORN Illinois, the largest grassroots organization in the United States, and has led a variety of public relations efforts advocating within various fields covered in the philanthropic agenda. She has worked in Liberia for the Analyst Newspaper as a reporter assigned to the Capitol Building. Laura’s knowledge and concern about humanitarian issues has led her to write and research international funding initiatives for war torn countries, public education funding in the United States, women’s issues, and arts and cultural programs. She hopes that her passion for justice, truth and spirituality shines as a light in her writing, and inspires.  

Miatta Kawinzi is a mutli-disciplinary artist whose work and experience encompasses poetry, creative writing, playwriting, directing, acting, and the still and moving image. From being an editor of a literary and arts magazine in high school and college to writing and directing two original plays for the New Works Playwriting Festival, she is committed to drawing on different mediums through which to deliver her artistic and politically-informed work. Most recently, she participated in the collaborative scripting and performance of an original play about racial dynamics in educational environments. She also created a photo-based installation on the metaphorical significance of water within the African Diaspora that explored themes of migration (forced and otherwise) and the significance of absence as it relates to recorded histories and representations. She is interested in the forging of a world where the traditional demarcations that separate artistic exploration and expression from social engagement and daily life can be dissolved.

Ounzuba Kemeh-Gama is a 1976 University of Liberia graduate with a degree in Chemistry. While at the university, he was a student activist during the pivotal years of 1973-76. He graduated from the prestigious College of West Africa high school in 1972. He pursued a Bachelors of Science degree and a Masters degrees in Computer Science from the City College of New York in 1981 and 1983 respectively. Upon return from the United States, he served as Systems Analyst of the Data Processing Department for the Liberia Electricity Corporation, and later as Director of the Computer Center at the University of Liberia. He has worked as an adjunct Mathematics Instructor and Computer Consultant in the South Jersey and Philadelphia areas. Since 1999, he’s worked at a State Agency in the United States as an Information Technology Manager. Hailing from Lofa county, he is a member of the Peace Lutheran Church in Galloway, New Jersey, USA, where he resides with his wife and children.

Sengbe Kona Khasu is a screenwriter, film director and musician living in New York City. His screenplays have been recognized by the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), Scenario, The Magazine of Screenwriting Art, and the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab. Terminal Island, his first script, placed second in a Writer’s Guild competition. His next script, Nat Turner, was accepted by the Sundance Film Institute. Kona has been a freelance electric bass player for the past 16 years, playing in Boston, Los Angeles and New York. He wrote, scored and directed the award-winning short film, Hunting In America, a political drama with a subversive twist about racial profiling, stereotypes, moral choices and Black success in America, produced by Lisa Simmons. While in Los Angeles, Kona’s creative projects included developing original ideas and working as a writer for the actor Will Smith’s production company. His major writing projects include two scripts inspired by or based in Liberia with Liberian actor and writer, Emery Bright; and a collaborative screenplay adaptation of the novel Dancing In The Dark by and with author and playwright Caryl Phillips. Kona is a member of The Color of Film Collaborative founded in 1998. He is the son of James Kona Khasu Roberts, the renowned playwright, scholar, poet and cultural historian. Kona S. Khasu holds a Master in Filmmaking from Boston University.  

Cecilia Armena King is known for her surrealistic pen & ink drawings of women. She recently turned her hand to poetry. She is the great-great-granddaughter of daguerreotypist Augustus Washington who took the famous portrait of John Brown, the abolitionist; the granddaughter of former President of Liberia, Charles D. B. King; and daughter of Cecil D. B. King and Armena Estelle Cooper. Her “Cerita” drawing appears on the cover of Miatta Fahnbulleh’s CD, Blast from the Past, released in 2000. “Cerita” is currently touring the world in the internationally acclaimed Women of the World global exhibition. “Cerita” has also been published in the accompanying book, Women of the World: A Global Collection of Art, comprised of representations of “woman” by women artists from 174 countries (Pomegranate, 2000). The entire exhibition will be permanently housed in the International Museum of Women being built in San Francisco which opens in 2008. Cecilia, her loving and supportive husband Charles E. Gantt, and their two children, Charlton Ali Gantt, and Cerita Armena Adeline Gantt, reside in Reston, VA, USA, where she continues her love for the arts.

Ute Klissenbauer is an artist, art curator, and political scientist, born 1966 in La Paz, Bolivia. Until 1983 she attended schools in Colombia, Ecuador and four years at the E.L.W.A. school in Monrovia. Liberia. She studied philosophy and political science at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University and fine arts at Städelschule Art Academy in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. For some years she worked as assistant to Professor Kasper König, then she did free lance art projects, such as the conference and exhibition “UFO UNO - United Nations, the Public and Art” (www.ufo-uno.org). Lectures and publications on art research and politics followed. Currently Ute Klissenbauer is working on her doctoral thesis “‘Local and National Ownership’ - a Peace Policy Norm, UN Peacebuilding and National Self-Determination in Liberia and Sierra Leone” at the institute for political science, University of Darmstadt. Her special interest is the cultural dimension of the concept of “ownership”. Two study trips in 2007 and 2008 allowed her to see Liberia again. A longer work stay (research, art exhibition and conference) is planned.

Grace Kolliesuah was born and raised in Rivercess, Liberia. She grew up with her maternal grandparents, devoted Christians, and Grace still follows that path. She attended elementary school at the Open Bible Mission School; she graduated from Haywood Mission High School and matriculated to the US through the generosity and love of an African American Missionary, Wanda Hollinger Sprinkle, who supported Grace and considers her to be her own child, even today. Grace obtained her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Akron, Akron, Ohio. She is a Licensed Social Worker with a Master of Social Work degree (MSW). She has worked in the social service field in various managerial positions, as a direct case worker and supervisor, and currently holds a Program Manager position with the City of Columbus Health Department. She has been married to her husband, Alphonso, for 21 years. They have three lovely daughters. Her spiritual and professional goals are to strive for, discover and ignite hope in each life that she encounters every day.

Nvasekie N. Konneh is the author of the book of poetry, Going To War For America. He’s working on his second book, So Far Away On The Distant Sea.

Marie Kromah-Sherif, Liberian born, currently lives and works in Columbus, Ohio, USA. She is Director of Family Support for the National US Head Start Program. A wife of nineteen years, she enjoys reading, organizing events, traveling, and providing training in the area of child abuse prevention.

Paschal B. Kyiiripuo Kyoore, Ph.D, Guest Writer, had his university education in Ghana, Spain, France, and the United States. He is an Associate Professor of French at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota. He specializes in francophone African and Caribbean literatures and cultures as well as French literature and culture of the 19th and 20th centuries. His research focuses on African and Caribbean writers, and he is particularly interested in the historical novel as well as other forms of the African/Caribbean novel that deal with issues of social, economic, and political justice. He is currently working on a book on Dagara (West African) proverbs, folk tales, riddles, and folk songs. Among his publications is the book The African and Caribbean Historical Novel: A Quest for Identity (Peter Lang Publishing: 1996, 1999).

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Edgar O. Lake is a writer who lives in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. His forthcoming novel, The Wake of the Empress, is the second in a trilogy about Caribbean exile and sojourn. An earlier title, The Devil’s Bride, was published in 2004.

Ophelia S. Lewis is from “the noble city of Monrovia.” A poet, essayist, fiction writer, and entrepreneur/publisher, she is founder and CEO of Village Tales Publishing, based in Georgia, USA. She’s published her own work, a book composed of poems and essays, My Dear Liberia,, and two books of poetry, See My Heart and Journeys of My Heart. She’s finishing up a short story collection with a thematic concern for “what’s beautiful about Liberia.” Website

Peekoo (Alfreda) Lewis was born on Snapper Hill, in Monrovia, Liberia. She was educated in Sierra Leone and the United States. Peekoo established Palaver Hut Special Events in 1990 and has worked with many clients including the Nigerian Mission to the United Nations, The Apollo Theater, Russell Simmons’s Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, Liberian filmmaker Gerald Barclay’s GeeBee Productions, Wesley Snipes’ Amen Ra Productions and many independent films and music video productions. She and her husband, Jaheed Ashley, are the East Coast representatives for the Pan African Film Festival, and have recently completed production on a documentary about Nigerian musical icon, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, titled Fela, Fresh From Africa. Ms. Lewis also works in theater, and is a founding member of the International Mothers of Liberia. She resides in New York City.

Leslie Lumeh was born in 1970 in Dambala, Western Liberia. Lumeh is a self-taught artist with a 1987 diploma in architectural drafting from the Booker T. Washington Institute at Kakata. His first art exhibition was held in 1993 at the National Museum, Monrovia, with the New Breed Painters, an artistic organization he helped bring into existence as a founding member. His first commission from the International Bank (ITC-IB), Monrovia, followed that same year. The April 6, 1996 bloodshed brought about an American Embassy commission for Leslie to commemorate marines involved in the U.S. military “Operation Assured Response”. Other commissions came from Dyn Corp International; Mercy Corp; the International Republican Institute; World Vision; the International Resources Group, an NGO responsible for the re-electrification of Liberia; and the Liberia Teachers Training Program, among others. While exiled in the Ivory Coast during the Taylor regime, Lumeh also illustrated the cover art for several novels, including Dognimin Lassina’s Coulibaly for the 2002 Mes Racines series. Commissions from the Luce Gallery in Libreville, Gabon; the Red Cross in Abidjan; and others from across the continent inspired Lumeh to turn to representing the larger African world in some of his works. Lumeh works with watercolors, oils, acrylics, and pen and ink, using the palette knife to achieve a unique effect in his paintings. A Leslie Lumeh work finished in palette knife is an interplay of colors on canvas. The artist lives in Monrovia, working full-time as a professional freelance artist and newspaper cartoonist for the Daily Observer newspaper (www. liberianobserver.com). He is the chairman of the Liberia Artist Association (LAA), formed in 2006. Website

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Hoover Wantue Major, born and raised in Liberia, taught himself art. He is a realist, a surrealist, an abstract artist, a cubist, a watercolorist, an impressionist, an illustrator, and a cartoonist. His art hangs in private and public collections in Africa, Europe, North America, the Middle East, Australia, and East Asia. Mr. Major has hung shows in Liberia, Charlottesville, Washington, DC, Minneapolis, Zurich, and Geneva. From 1990 to 1999, He conducted art classes for children and adults in Liberia and America, from refugee camps to college classrooms. Using art as detraumatizing therapy, he taught refugee children and traumatized adults love, forgiveness, tolerance, and peace.

Sakui WoibaSuo Godoe Malakpa was born in Wozi, Zorzor District, Lofa County, Liberia to the union of Mr. Kpadehyea Malakpa and Madame Yasa Kortoe Gbatoloku.  Sakui’s father, the greatest man he has ever known, was a popular Poro Zoe who served as the Zoe Paramount Chief of the then Western Province, now Lofa County, Liberia.  Unfortunately, Sakui lost his beloved father at an early age.  He also mourned the loss of his beloved mother in 1994. 

Sakui attended Florida State University in Tallahassee where he earned a bachelors degree cum laude in three years.  Sakui continued his studies at FSU where he earned a masters degree with a 4.0 grade point average.  He then matriculated to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts were he earned a second masters degree and a doctorate in education. Dr. Malakpa also earned a law degree from the College of Law at the University of Toledo. 

Dr. Malakpa is now a full professor with tenure at the University of Toledo in Ohio.  Professor Malakpa has traveled extensively, conducting workshops, presenting papers, etc. In 1992, he was a visiting professor to the University of Zululand in South Africa.  Professor Malakpa has published widely in refereed and non-refereed journals.  He is the author of The Village Boy, a novel that is used in some schools today, including the University of Toledo.  He has just completed the follow-up, The Village Man which he hopes to publish soon.

Henry Mamadi Mamulu has worked in all areas of the Liberian arts and with traumatized children suffering from the effects of violence of all kinds. He is the 2001 recipient of the Bishop Brown Award for the promulgation of the gospel given annually by the B.W. Harris Alumni Association. He serves on the board of directors of the Global Medical Relief Fund, a foundation that facilitates medical treatment for children from war-torn countries. With the high interest and controversy surrounding the 2007 release of his first book, The Calm Before the Storm, Lu plans to keep writing to make sense of the Liberian experience from a historical, cultural and spiritual perspective. He also plans to continue his work with traumatized children, both in Liberia and America, as well as go deeper into the arts, from music to drama, illuminating the human condition through his knowledge of Liberia, Africa, African Americans and all people. He is a product of the Liberian Catholic school system and a graduate of St. Peters College in Jersey City, New Jersey. Website

Cassandra Mark is a Liberian of Caribbean descent. She has a B.A. in Communications, and an M.A. in International Affairs. She currently lives in Tallahassee, Florida (USA) where she graduated from Florida State University. She will begin her Doctorate of Philosophy in African History at Oxford University (UK) in October 2008.

Tony Martin, Ph.D., has taught at Wellesley College, Massachusetts since 1973. He was tenured in 1975 and has been a full professor of Africana Studies since 1979. Prior to coming to Wellesley, he taught at the University of Michigan-Flint, the Cipriani Labour College (Trinidad), and St. Mary’s College (Trinidad). He has been a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota, Brandeis University, Brown University, and The Colorado College. He also spent a year as an honorary research fellow at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad. Professor Martin has authored, compiled or edited 12 books, including Literary Garveyism: Garvey, Black Arts and the Harlem Renaissance, and the classic study of the Garvey Movement, Race First: the Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. His most recent project was the re-publication of Eric Williams and E. Franklin Frazier, Eds, The Economic Future of the Caribbean (1944). Martin qualified as a barrister-at-law at the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn (London) in 1965, did a B.Sc. honours degree in economics at the University of Hull (England), and the M.A. and Ph.D. in history at Michigan State University. Martin’s articles and reviews have appeared in such journals as the Journal of Negro History; American Historical Review; African Studies Review; Washington Post Book World; Journal of Caribbean History; Journal of American History; Black Books Bulletin; Jamaica Journal; Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East; and many others. His writings can be found in several reference works and encyclopedias, including the UNESCO General History of the Caribbean; the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; the Encyclopedia of African American Business History; Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia; and Notable Black American Men. He has received numerous academic and community awards, including a grant from the American Philosophical Society. He has reviewed articles and programs for scholarly journals, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Austrian Science Fund. His biographical listings can be found in Who’s Who in America; Who’s Who in the World; Who’s Who Among Americaâ’s Teachers; Personalities Caribbean; Who’s Who Among African Americans; and elsewhere. He has been a reviewer and consultant for publishers and has served as an expert witness for Congressional hearings. Martin is well known as a lecturer in many countries. He has spoken to university and general audiences all over the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and England, as well as in Africa, Australia, Bermuda, and South America. In 1990 he delivered the annual DuBois/Padmore/Nkrumah Pan-African lectures in Ghana. In 2004 he was one of the principal speakers at the First Conference of Intellectuals of Africa and the Diaspora, which was sponsored by the African Union in Senegal. Roland Bankole Marke, Guest Writer, is a Sierra Leonean who once lived in Congo Town, Liberia. He is author of two collections of poetry; Teardrops Keep Falling (2003) and Silver Rain and Blizzard (2005). He’s also a songwriter and lyricist. His articles, short stories and poems have been published in various magazines and online journals both in Sierra Leone and internationally. His forthcoming book of stories and essays, Harvest of Hate, has gone to press.

Octavia McBride-Ahébée, Guest Writer, is a poet, short story writer, playwright and teacher. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, McBride-Ahébée lived for nine years in La Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa. A former reporter for The Philadelphia Tribune, her literary work has appeared in the following journals and anthologies: The Beloit Poetry Journal, International Quarterly,The Eagle Spirit, Poet Lore (2nd place winner in the John Williams Andrews Narrative Poetry Competition), The Journal of the National Medical Association, Timbooktu, and Writers Against War. Educated at Williams College and Cheyney University, McBride-Ahébée’s 2003 debut collection of poetry, Assuming Voices, is published by the Lit Pot Press Poets Potpourri Series. McBride-Ahébée’s poetry gives voice to women who historically have not been heard; African women, women in refugee camps, women who are victims of civil war, new immigrant women and isolated, rural women. Website

Duncan McGibbon was born in Greenock, Scotland in 1949. He attended St. Mary’s College, Strawberry Hill and King’s College, London. He was a member of the Poet’s Workshop which ran through the sixties to the nineties where his mentors were, among others, the late Philip Hobsbaum, George MacBeth, Leonard Clark, Peter Porter and Alan Brownjohn. He began publishing in journals in the 1970s. He currently lives and works in Berne, commuting between his British and Swiss workshops. He has recently toured Australia and was a prizewinner at the Wells Literary Festival. He has published poems in Aesthetica and Horizon.

Cietta David Mensah is an accomplished artist with 27 years of art teaching experience in color and design, art history, oils, watercolors, drawing, pottery and other mediums. Cietta has lived and worked in Accra, London, Rome, Paris, and Washington, DC. She has participated in numerous solo and group art exhibitions in Liberia, Italy, Senegal, France, Switzerland, Belgium and the United States of America. She is the Founder of the Liberian Painter’s Association, serving as its President from 1985-90. As Professor of Art at the University of Liberia, she developed an arts curriculum and taught courses on the Art of Africa, Introduction to Color, Introduction to Design, and Oil Painting. She also founded The Liberian Children’s Club, providing weekly art workshops for children. She was Art Teacher at the J.J. Roberts Methodist School and the British Independent School in Monrovia. As Cultural Affairs Specialist for the US Information Service, Monrovia (1984-90), she promoted US artist events throughout Liberia, organized lectures and other programs for international visitors, interviewed applicants for US study tours, produced a monthly cultural bulletin, and managed international art exhibitions. She has been awarded various commissions and despite the irreplaceable loss of many of her paintings during the war, some of her original paintings are held in public and private collections around the world. Cietta holds a Master of Fine Arts, Painting, from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She presently lives in Mitchellville, Maryland, USA.

Saah Millimono was born on June 19, 1981. He lived in Guinea during the Liberian civil crisis, and graduated from the St. Michael’s Catholic School after his return to Liberia. He is currently the short story writer for the Daily Observer Newspaper, and has written an unpublished novel. 
Wayetu Moore published her memoir entitled These Legs Were Made For Walking at the age of 17. She attended New York University after an acceptance at age 16 to the Tisch School of the Arts. Moore worked as a model and off-Broadway actress in New York before promoting her own writing, and exploring her possibilities in the literary field. Among her credits are a screenplay for actor Michael Wright of The Five Heartbeats, contributing writer for blackplanet.com, The Liberian Times, and The Liberian Analyst, and most notably, her production and direction of her original off-Broadway play, A Girl of Faith’s, that gained her recognition at the tender age of 18 by The New York Times, Time Out New York, The Maxine Thomas Show, The Daily News, Today New York, and Essence Magazine. Wayetu is also co-founder and editor of, The Coup Magazine, a literary publication whose goal is the global unification of women of color through social awareness and political consciousness. Website

Anthony Morgan, Jr. works in civil engineering. An avid student of history, he is completing two books: KRU WARS: Southeastern Tribal Uprisings in 1830s Liberia, and, THE 17TH TRIBE: African-American Settlers in Liberia and their Descendants, 1822-1980.

Emmanuel Morgan is a graduate of the University of Liberia where he majored in Political Science and minored in Mass Communication. He is presently persuing a graduate degree at the University. Emmanuel is the Executive Secretary of the Liberia Political Science Association and is also a copy editor at the Inquirer Newspaper In Liberia. In addition, Emmanuel is an English and Literature instructor at two high schools in Liberia.

Nora Musu was born in Madison, Wisconsin, to Liberian parents. Her art and life experience epitomize a multiculturalism that transcends boundaries or specific styles. She was always surrounded by art and influential artists, training at the University of Liberia under the renowned artist and art professor Cietta David Mensah. Her work brings together an eclectic visual boldness and an expressive, soulful sensitivity mirroring her life experiences. She drew on the broad panorama of her African ancestry to create her first US collection, Ngewo Domain, which includes “Iron Shoulders,” capturing impressions of ancient African stone and wooden sculpture. She achieves this effect with a creative and innovative blend of acrylic polymers and iron and copper particles enhanced by a process of rusting and patina that results in a three-dimensional sculptural relief effect. Nora believes that her talents, skills and knowledge come from “the Giver of All Things Good,” Ngewo Domain, the mediator of nature in Mende legend and belief. The feminine Spirit of the Forest, Ngewo, who is the “Deliverer of All Things Good,” appeals to her feminine side. Her paintings are included in several private collections, including the art collection of George Tanchevski of New Albany, Ohio; and the art collection of Abdul and Marie Sherif of Pickerington, Ohio. Exhibitions of her work may be found at Kiaca Gallery, Columbus, Ohio; Kibibi’s Art Gallery, Grandview, Ohio; The Loft Gallery & Cultural Arts Center, Columbus, Ohio; Roots Gallery & Cultural Arts Center, Columbus, Ohio; The William H. Thomas Gallery, Columbus, Ohio; and Vision2Words Urban Art Gallery, Columbus, Ohio. While Nora is a passionate artist, she holds a B.Sc. in Business Administration from Franklin University, Columbus,Ohio, and has successfully operated a home-based clothing design and home decor business. A single mother of two children, she has lived in Columbus, Ohio, USA, for the past twenty years. Nora’s paintings are sold as originals (no prints), and can be purchased directly through her Website

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K-Moses Nagbe is author of the short story collection, We are One (1986); Thinking Through The Times (1991), a book of essays and poetry; the novels, The Drum Daddy is Back (1989); Road to Romeo (1992); Sun at Midnight (2003); Wings for the Next Day (2004); A Scream in the Storm (2004); the travelogue, Bulk Challenge (1996); and the book Nuggets of the African Novel, with Notes on the Liberian Literary Heritage (2005). He presently resides in the United States of America.

Nathaniel N. P. Nah, Sr. is a member of the Liberian Association of Writers (LAW). He was born in Grand Kru County and acquired his elementary education in Saaatown of the then Sasstown territory. He then attended Sinoe High School in Greenville city, graduating in 1975 with honors. He gained post-high school technical training in automobile repairs. Writing is his hobby.

Nimely V. Napla is a master dancer, craftsman, costume designer, choreographer and former director of the Liberian National Cultural Troupe. Nimely came to the United States in the early 1980s with the cultural troupe to perform at the Louisiana World Exposition and share his artistic talents and vision.  He was awarded a certificate from the Commissioner General for his service to the New Orleans SPCA classic horse show.  He also worked with the New Orleans Public School System’s “Artist-in-School” program.

In 1985 Nimely founded a performance company in Columbus, Ohio and in 1994 he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota where he currently resides and formed the Nimely Pan African Dance Company, the only Liberian traditional dance company in Minnesota.  Under his direction the Nimely Pan African Dance Company has toured nationally and annually hosts “Panafest”, a West African dance and drum conference.  The company has been invited to perform by the NAACP in Washington DC and by numerous Liberian delegates including Ambassador Rachel G. Diggs and for two years in a row, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. 

Nimely has been awarded a Certificate of Excellence by former Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, and has performed and created woodcarvings at the Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, the 1996 Olympics, and as an educator with numerous school districts in Minnesota, California, and Louisiana.  As a costume designer and choreographer he has been commissioned by renowned companies such as the Diamano Coura West African Dance Company based in California and the Kankouran Dance Company based in Washington, DC.

Annaird Naxela was born in Harbel and lived for many years nearby in the cautionary town called Small-No-Taste. He writes from Staten Island where he lectures in English at CUNY/College of Staten Island and researches the development and evolution of Liberian literature. He’s also writing a formal psychological exposition of Gortokai, the narrator/villain/protagonist of Bai T. Moore’s 1963 novel, Murder in a Cassava Patch. His soon-to-be-published collection of poems is entitled is: Memory and Migration.

Timothy Nevin is originally from Chicago, and is currently a professor of African History at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He is working on completing his PhD thesis at the University of Florida, which is entitled “A History of the Liberian Cultural Renaissance, 1970-1989″. He has conducted two research trips to Liberia, in 2005 and again during the summer of 2008. His wife of five years, Debra Doeway, is also from Liberia. Timothy can be contacted at: esperanto333@yahoo.com.

Saah Charles N’Tow is a poet and author of Dirges for my homeland: a collection of war poems and other poems published by Author House (2004). He’s shared his poems with audiences in the UK, Holland, Africa and the USA. Some of his poems, including, Little Boy Soldier, When it is calm again, and The Unwilling Soldier have been translated into Dutch and Arabic and published in various magazines. He’s also completing a novel, Deported. He is a community organizer, peace activist and founding member and former leader of the Liberian Community Organization (LICO) in London. He now works with the Liberian Community Association of Rhode Island (LCARI) as its Development and Immigration Committees chair, and is the Executive Director of Ripples of Hope, International (ROHI), a humanitarian non-profit organization committed to human rights and community development based in Rhode Island, USA. Under his leadership, ROHI conducted a series of “Poetry for Peace” workshops held at the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana and at the Boreah Refugee Camp in Guinea in July and August of 2004. Saah draws on his professional experience as a youth worker as well as his experience as a Liberian refugee to address the challenges affecting Liberian families in refugee camps and the Diaspora. In 2002, he was awarded a Rhode Island Foundation Fellowship to promote poetry as therapy in post-war societies. He lives with his wife and children in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

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Gladys Orisavbia is a writer and research analyst. Her interests evolves around developing content for startup publishing groups and frontline internet magazines. She holds a Bachelor degree in English from Edo State University. She lives with her husband in Lagos, Nigeria.

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Dawn Padmore is a versatile singer and active recitalist. Referred to as “a resonating soprano” by the music critic of the New York Times, Ms. Padmore’s diverse programs have included art songs from the standard repertoire in addition to art songs and arias by young American composers and celebrated African composers, including J. H. Kwabena Nketia of Ghana and Bongani Ndonana of South Africa among others. Ms. Padmore sang at the 2006 inauguration of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. She has performed internationally in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and North America; as a soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Paul Civic Orchestra (MN), and with the Delaware Symphony as a competition winner. She was a young studio artist with the Des Moines Metro Opera Company. She has collaborated with many musicians including acclaimed pianist Darryl Hollister, world-renowned scholar and composer Akin Euba, and Canada’s groundbreaking music group “Ensemble Noir.” Performances of note have included a tour of Africa with “Ensemble Noir” with performances in Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa; featured artist at the Festival of Sacred and Profane Music in Martinique; and recitals in collaboration with Mr. Hollister featuring new music by African and African-American composers in Pittsburgh and at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; at the 2005 New Music Indaba Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa; in St. Thomas and St. John, the U.S. Virgin Islands; and at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. She’s collaborated with world/jazz drummer Sean Noonan of “Brewed by Noon” on recordings of two original songs. Her operatic roles performed include the Countess in Marriage of Figaro; Lady with the Cake Box in Postcard from Morocco; Elettra in Idomeneo; and Sister Angelica in Sister Angelica. New operas include the Radical Woman in No Easy Walk to Freedom. Competitions won include the Austrian American Society Competition (DE), the Metropolitan Opera Guild Competition Midwest District Winner, and the Delaware Symphony Concerto Competition. Her Toronto debut recital was reviewed by the Toronto Star as a “series of musical confections smartly wrapped in a silky soprano.” As a featured soloist in the world premiere of Akin Euba’s opera, Orunmila’s Voices, with the Jefferson Performing Arts Society Orchestra, Ms. Padmore’s performance was considered “a highlight of the evening” by the New Orleans Times-Picayune review. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Music from the University of Delaware, and completed her Master of Music in vocal performance at The University of Minnesota School of Music. Website

Robtel Neajai Pailey was born in Monrovia, Liberia. Having travelled throughout Africa and studied in Egypt, England, Ghana, Italy, South Africa, Switzerland and the United States, Pailey is passionate about social transformation. A published writer and activist, Pailey has appeared in Africa Today, Red Pepper Magazine, Pambazuka News, The Washington Informer, Clamor Magazine, Port of Harlem Magazine, allafrica.com, Global Woman Magazine, Liberian Analyst, Black Star News, Sea Breeze Journal, Mano Vision, and From the Slave Trade to ‘Free’ Trade. She holds a Masters degree in African Studies from the University of Oxford, UK, and undergraduate degrees in African Studies/English Literature from Howard University, Washington, DC.

Angela M. Peabody was born and raised in Monrovia, Liberia. Her mother, who was mayor of the city of Marshall and her father, a longtime politician, helped to shape Angela’s interest in reading and writing. By the sixth grade, she had won her first award for essay writing, and had recited publicly the Liberian Declaration of Independence from memory. This set the stage for her career in broadcast journalism in Monrovia, before she went into exile following the 1980 coup d’etat. Her novel Exiled is born of this experience. She’s recently completed a commissioned biography, Welfare to Millionaire, for Sarian Bouma of Sierra Leone. Angela’s most recent release is a work of prose and poetry, Unconditional Love, which follows the lead character from Exiled, her previous novel. She is the founder/CEO of GLOBAL WOMAN MAGAZINE. Website

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Alexander Queh, was born in Juarzon, Sinoe County, Liberia. He resides in Delaware, USA.

 

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Tajudeen Abdul Raheem, Ph.D, Guest Writer, is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa. Website

Tregenza A. Roach, Esquire, lives in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, the place he has called home since moving there from his native St. Kitts in 1968. He a member of the adjunct faculty of the University of the Virgin Islands where he teaches in law and the humanities. Roach recently published his first collection of poetry entitled, The Blessing of Rain and other Poems. His original work also has been published in Volumes 9, 20 and 21 of The Caribbean Writer, Calabash Journal, Yellow Cedars Blooming and Seasoning for the Mortar. Roach was recognized for his work in Volume 20 of The Caribbean Writer with his selection for the Marguerite Cobb McKay prize. While he writes primarily poetry, he was awarded the Margaret A. Walker fiction prize by the Detroit Writers Guild in 1999.

M. Woryonwon Roberts is a resident of Paynesville, Montserrado County. He is an educator and a writer of prose, poetry, and song lyrics. His work has been published in the Daily Observer and Infinite Magazine; and his poetry had been read on ELBC Radio, and UNMIL Radio. He is an executive member of the Liberian Association of Writers (LAW).

Althea Romeo-Mark, Guest Writer, was born in Antigua in 1948. Althea earned a B.A. in Secondary Education and English and earned a Master in American Literature at Kent State University, Ohio, 1974. As an educator, she has taught in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, the Dept. of Pan-African Studies; Kent State University, USA; The University of Liberia, West Africa, from 1976-90; Fullham Cross Secondary School, London, England,1990-91; and presently teaches English As A Foreign Language at Klubschule, Migros and the Volkshochschule in Basel, Switzerland, where she has been living since 1991. She is the mother of three children; two daughters, Malaika, and Cassandra, and one son, Michael. Her children were born in Liberia and grew up in Switzerland. She is married to Dr. Emmanuel Mark, M.D. of Grenada, West Indies. He is a graduate of the University of Basel, Switzerland. She has published four anthologies of poems: Shu Shu Moko Jumbi, Kent State Univ., USA, 1974; Palaver, Downtown Poets Co-op, New York, 1978; Two Faces, Two Phases, Speed-O-Graphics, Liberia, 1984, and Beyond Dreams: The Ritual Dancer, Aroma Productions, Liberia, 1989. Althea has published in various anthologies and literary journals in the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, The USA, England, Germany, Switzerland and Norway. She is presently working on a collection of poems, Neighbors in the Chicken Coop. Althea Romeo-Mark believes her desire to write was inspired by her father, Gilbert Romeo, who is a fantastic storyteller, and Dr. David Gershator, her former professor of literature at the University of the Virgin Islands. Blog

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Wilton Gbakolo Sengbe Sankawulo, Sr. was born in Haindi, Bong County, Fuama Chiefdom, Liberia, in 1937. He graduated from Cuttington College with a Bachelor of Science in Education in 1963; from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary with a Bachelor of Divinity in Theology in 1969; and from the University of Iowa with a Master of Fine Arts in English in 1969.  His many published works include the novels The Rain and the Night (1974), and his recently released Sundown at Dawn, A Liberian Odyssey, Dusty Spark Publishing, 2005; the collections of folklore, The Marriage of Wisdom (1974), Why Nobody Knows When He Will Die (1979), Pot of Gold (1979), and The Challenge of Mister Antelope and Great Tales of Liberia; and the nonfiction texts Tolbert of Liberia, Liberia and African Unity, and What My Country Needs Today. He has served as Professor of English and Literature at the University of Liberia and Cuttington College; Assistant Minister of Information; Special Assistant to the President of Liberia; Chairman of the Second Liberian National Transitional Government; and Interim Head of State of the Republic of Liberia. In 2001, during a mission to Romania on behalf of Cuttington University College, the University of Sibiu conferred on the Liberian professor the degree of Doctor of Literature, honoris causa, for his literary accomplishments. The University of Sibiu also published his collections of Liberian tales in 2005 entitled Great Tales of Liberia. Dr. Sankawulo previously resided in Houston, Texas, devoting his time to writing and leading a writer’s workshop. For health reasons, he moved to Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife, Amelia Yata Korpeleh, whose love, support, and encouragement have greatly contributed to his success. Mrs. Sankawulo also hails from Bong County. Their marriage, which spans over 40 years, is blessed with four children: Rose, Roland, Minnie, and Wilton Jr. and a host of grandchildren.Website

Eugene Scott was born in Liberia and spent his formative years in Liberia. He works as a banker and resides in St. Louis, Missouri USA, with his wife, Louella, and his son. His long friendship with the artist Aaron Fallah Brown reinforced many invaluable life lessons in humility, kindness and self-assurance that were learned early in life from his mother, Ella Scott, who claimed Aaron Fallah Brown as her son.

Stanley Seakor is the publisher of The Analyst daily newspaper, founded in 1998. Website

Robert V. Sesay is a journalist and novelist. His debut novel Stolen Justice is due out soon. He lives in Levittown, PA.

Elma Shaw is a writer, award-winning filmmaker, and founder of the Liberia Hope Fund-a nonprofit organization that has provided academic scholarships, HIV/AIDS education, and mentoring activities for at-risk girls and young women since 2000.  Shaw has two beautiful sons, and currently divides her time between Monrovia and Washington DC. She writes about life in Liberia at liberiastories.blogspot.com, and is the author of Redemption Road: The Quest for Peace and Justice in Liberia (A Novel).

Omanza Eugene Shaw, photographer, photojournalist, photographic artist, actor and poet, was born to Emanuel L. Shaw I and Eugenia A. Cooper in Monrovia, Liberia. His best loved Liberian food is (organic) cassava leaves and (brown) rice, while his favorite books are Illusions by Richard Bach, Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, The Prophet by Khalil Gibran and Neither This Nor That: Discourses on Sosan by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (now known as Osho). While Omanza enjoys a wide range of music, Joan Armatrading tops the small group of artists he connects with at the soul level. If any man, woman or child chooses to create a unique new vibe (or renew an existing one) by connecting with this universal being. Email

Vamba Sherif was born in 1973 in the forest town of Kolahun, Lofa County, Liberia. As a student at the University of Kuwait, he immersed himself in Arab, European and African literatures. The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait interrupted his studies, and after the Gulf War exploded, which he experienced firsthand, Vamba fled to the Netherlands, where he was granted a residence permit on humanitarian grounds, as Liberia was also aflame by war. Vamba Sherif’s first novel, The Land of the Fathers (Het land van de vaders 1999), connects the war situation in Liberia with the past of the nineteenth century, when Liberia was established as the first free African republic. The main character, Edward Richards, a former slave from the United States, tries to find a place in the country of his African roots. Vamba Sherif’s second novel, The Kingdom of Sebah (Het koninkrijk van Sebah 2003), tells the story of how an African family in the Netherlands learn to navigate their immigrant circumstances and new life. Bound to Secrecy (2007), Vamba’s third novel, is concerned with the theme of power and uses the detective medium to explore power at different levels of society. Exploring the interplay of power, both visible and invisible, the story reflects today’s world, with forces pitted against each other, each determined to destroy the other. All three novels are written in Dutch and all earned high critical acclaim. Vamba Sherif lives and writes in the Netherlands. Website

Momo Sheriff was born on February 12, 1958 in Grand Cape Mount County. He is a graduate of the Bendu Industrial Mission in Cape Mount, the Johnny Voker High School in Saclepea, Nimba County and the Don Bosco Technical High School in Monrovia. He has worked as a teacher at the Fatima Cottage Orphanage Mission, and as an intelligence officer at the Joint Security Commission. In 2007, he re-enrolled at the University of Liberia (UL) as an English Language major and History minor. Currently a senior student at UL, Sheriff is an aspiring writer who has written over 30 poems. 

Charmie Rachelle Snetter was born in Monrovia, Liberia, and raised between there and suburban Washington, D.C. She is a 2007 graduate of Temple University’s School of Communications and Theater in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a political science minor.  Though a writer at heart she is also a scholar-activist who enjoys engaging in constructive dialogue regarding the social and cultural well-being of African people on the continent and of the Diaspora.  She currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts, where she is a copy editor at the Boston Globe. 

Keith Harmon Snow, Guest Writer, is a a professional human rights and genocide investigator, and a freelance journalist and photographer. He’s worked, traveled or lived in 43 countries, seventeen in Africa, since 1989. His reportage on Africa has won three Project Censored awards, and his work has appeared in numerous print and electronic venues. His multimedia presentations have frequently been hosted at such schools as Smith College, Wesleyan, Hampshire, University of Massachusetts, University of Vermont, U-Illinois, Dartmouth, Mt. Holyoke College, New York University, and U-Penn. He is also the Secretary and co-director of Project Stop Excision in Mali. In 2005, Keith was employed as a United Nations consultant investigating genocide and crimes against humanity in Ethiopia and Sudan. In 2004, he worked as a freelance field investigator for Genocide Watch and Survivor’s Rights International, focusing on the Horn & Central Africa regions, with particular attention on sexual violence. On April 6, 2001, Keith provided expert testimony on genocide and covert operations in Africa as part of a special Congressional hearing on Capitol Hill. Keith has also worked with the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda. From 1986-89, he worked for GE Aerospace Electronics Laboratories, after graduating cum laude with B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts. He lives and farms in western Massachusetts when he is not abroad. Website

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Emmanuel Jeh Taryon is a former student activist and journalist who presently lives and works as a hotel manager in Takoradi, Ghana. He obtained a diploma in education at St. Anthony College of Education in Bamenda, Cameroon. He has written several articles for Skyy Focus, a Takoradi-based local newspaper. He serves as spokesperson for the Krisan Camp Liberian Refugees Welfare Council, and is General Secretary of the Liberian National Community in the Western Region of Ghana, operating under the auspices of the Liberian Embassy. Reading and writing are among his interests.

Robert Gbatiae Tikpor is a Monsignor in the Catholic church of Liberia, a writer, scholar, and cultural authority on the Bassa peoples.

Ray Martin Toe is a linguist and broadcaster. He was a teacher in Liberia at several Catholic schools. He studied and taught in Poland, graduating from the University of Warsaw, and is a doctoral candidate in Social Anthropology, University of Warsaw. His essays, interviews and articles have been published in various European journals and Liberian newspapers and Internet magazines. He lives in Washington, DC.

Thomas Kai Toteh is a student at the Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, USA, majoring in journalism and minoring in creative writing. He is founder and editor of the African Refugee and Asylee Newsletter based in Jacksonville, Florida. He was a student activist in Liberia before the civil war. He is the author of the recently published novel, African Child: From Wizard to Refugee (Authorhouse, 2005).

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Bernard Vandemeulebroecke is a Belgian graphic designer based in Düsseldorf, Germany. During his visit to Liberia in December 1977, he made two and a half super-8 films of which the ten minute Kendeja sequence is a part.

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Elaine Warren-Jacobs was born in Antigua. Her mother immigrated to St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands in 1964. Two years later, during early adolescence, Elaine along with her sister joined her mother in St. Thomas where she completed her secondary education and later pursued a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Education at the University of the Virgin Islands. Elaine holds Masters Degrees in Education from the University of Connecticut and in Folklore and Mythology from UCLA. She is a schoolteacher in the Virgin Islands school system and an adjunct faculty member in Humanities at the University of the Virgin Islands.

Teri Weefur has more than ten years of experience with civil rights and humanitarian activism, and has also moved in the arts world as a writer to shed light on and put a human face to the issues that she’s most passionate about: humanitarian causes. This Liberian native currently lives in the Washington, DC area and works for a social justice organization. A poet and journalist, Teri, is also mother to a beautiful five-year-old boy, and is working on her first novel. Website

Othello Koibia Weh was born on January 7,1950 in Yila, Bong County, Liberia. A graduate of the William V. S. Tubman Teachers College, University of Liberia, he is currently a candidate for a Masters degree in Educational Administration and Supervision at the University of Liberia.
 
From 1984 to 1986, Othello Weh served as a vice principal of  the Calvary Baptist Church High School in Sinkor, Monrovia, and was later promoted to principal in 1987. He held  this position until 1997 when he joined the Civil Service Agency as Principal Director of the Division of Selection and Classification.  In 2006 he was appointed by the President, Her Excellency, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, as Deputy Director General for Administration of the agency.
 
Othello has written lots of poems on various subjects including the Liberian Civil War. He has also written many children’s books but they are not yet published.

Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, Ph.D, was born in Tugbakeh, Maryland County, southeastern Liberia. She grew up in Monrovia and attended the College of West Africa (CWA) high school, Monrovia, Liberia; she earned a BA in English, University of Liberia, Monrovia, Liberia; a Masters of Science degree in English Education, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; and a Ph.D in Creative Writing from Western Michigan University. She is the author of two award-winning books of poetry, Becoming Ebony (Southern Illinois University Press, 2003) and Before the Palm Could Bloom: Poems of Africa (New Issues Press, 1998). She is English Professor at Penn State University, Altoona, Pennsylvania. Website

Korto Williams is an unswerving development professional with nine years of experience in Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, developing and implementing programs for unstable and extremely difficult environments. She however slips back to her ‘truth’ in poetry for honest and raw expression, exorcising demons of the civil war, the impact of globalization on self; and the eternal sexist battles brought on by the realities of Liberia and the world. She is a mother of two ’suns.’

Sam Wolo, A creator of fast-paced and edge-of-your-seat thrillers with crisp storylines that keep readers captivated, Sam Wolo holds a BA in Political Science from Dillard University, and a MA in International Relations from Howard University.  A former Legislative Aide to two United States Senators, he now lives in the Southeastern United States where he is currently working on a new series of adventure novels.  Sam attended J.J. Roberts Elementary School and the College of West Africa (CWA) while in Liberia.  Sam has gained a wealth of real-life experiences without which his novels could not have been realized.  The knowledge and foresight gained through his travels and the people he has met and formed relationships with have proven both invaluable and extraordinary.  His professional and personal experiences over the years played a significant role in the production of both of his action-packed thrillers, IN THE CROSSHAIRS, and DANGEROUS GROUNDS, another gripping and fast-moving tale of international espionage. 

Emira Woods is the co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF) is a think tank for research, analysis, and action that brings together 600 scholars, advocates, and activists who strive to make the United States a more responsible global partner. The Institute for Policy Studies is a multi-issue research center that has transformed ideas into action for peace, justice and the environment for over four decades. Ms. Woods is an expert on U.S. foreign policy with a special emphasis on Africa and the developing world. She has written on a range of issues from debt, trade and development to US military policy. Ms. Woods completed her undergraduate studies at Columbia University and her graduate studies at Harvard. Prior to joining IPS, Ms. Woods was Program Manager for the Committee on Development Policy and Practice at InterAction, serving as a principal staff contact for advocacy at the UN, the international financial institutions, USAID and Treasury. Previous to that, she served as Program Officer of Oxfam America’s Africa program. Ms. Woods has been interviewed on BBC, CNN, VOA, CBC, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, the Diane Rehm Show, the Kojo Nmandi Show and Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria on issues related to US Foreign Policy. She has hosted a WashingtonPost.com online chat and has published pieces in the NAACP’s Crisis magazine as well as the Miami Herald, The Christian Science Monitor, New York Newsday, The Nation, the Baltimore Sun, and the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, among many other print and electronic publications. Ms. Woods serves on the Board of Directors of Africa Action, Just Associates, Global Justice and the Financial Policy Forum. She is also on the Network Council of Jubilee USA.

Yei Gausi Wuor holds a Master in Education and is a member of the Liberia Association of Writers. She is a former principal of the J.J. Roberts United Methodist Elementary School, Monrovia. She presently resides in North Carolina.

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Vera Oyé Yaa-Anna was born in Cavalla, Maryland County. She is a storyteller, dancer, culinary artist, cultural educator, and theatre practitioner. She is founder and producer of the Palaver Hut West African Dinner Theatre, an interactive dining experience that weaves performance stories about food-ways and ethnic groups into a culinary experience, including cooking and serving “food arts pieces” in uniquely created cultural environments with an emphasis on the significance of culture, eating rituals, the power of food to unite people, and how the blending of various cultures have contributed to and influenced cuisine in the United States. She also teaches the art of personal narrative to at-risk Washington-area youth in her after school cultural enrichment programs, taking children and adults on “Journeys to Africa” through storytelling, food, dance and theatre. Included among the many venues where the Palaver Hut is staged are the Smithsonian’s Discovery Theatre and the National Museum of African Art. Vera is an Artist-in-Residence with the Smith Farm Center for the Healing Arts, through which she works at the Washington Cancer Institute and Howard University Hospital with cancer patients during all phases of treatment. She also teaches traditional African storytelling, the ancient spiritual and ancestral rituals of libations, the traditional African “greeting of elders”, drumming on the African jembe drum, and dance movements to the drum of the Creator and Ancestors. She lives in Washington, DC, USA. Website

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