Oberlin Kicks Off Convocation Series with Talk by Ishmael Beah '04

The college kicks off its 2014-2015 Convocation Series on Tuesday, September 9, with “An Evening with Ishmael Beah.” A 2004 Oberlin graduate, Beah’s 2007 memoir A Long Way Gone received popular and critical acclaim.

The convocation series presents free, public discussions of cutting-edge issues by some of the country’s most prominent thinkers. These talks are open to the public and take place in Oberlin’s Finney Chapel.

This fall, the series includes conversations by Jad Abumrad ’95 and Robert Krulwich ‘69, hosts of the public radio show Radiolab; Pulitzer-Prize winning illustrator Art Spiegelman and acclaimed jazz composer Phillip Johnston; and economist Jeffrey Sachs, a leading expert in the fight against poverty.

The series continues in Spring 2015 with lectures by novelist Zadie Smith and Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Vijay Seshadri ’74.

Beah will speak at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 9. No ticket is required. Born in Sierra Leone in 1980, Beah was 13 when he was recruited as a child soldier in Sierra Leone's civil war. He was removed from the army by UNICEF, and, after completing rehabilitation, he became an advocate for children affected by war. He is a senior research fellow at the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights at Rutgers University and cofounder of the Network of Young People Affected by War (NYPAW). His first novel, Radiance of Tomorrow, was published in January 2014.