second book is coming out. why to choose to make it a novel? >> well, first i wanted to depart all of from the memoir of nonfiction and secondly the issues that i'm writing about in the new book, the novel, is about a lot of people through my expected going back home after war and other peeps experts. there's a composite of a lot of things. i want to be able to have the freedom to play around with words and images. so that's what it's fictionalized. >> what kind of freedom does writing a novel give you rather than nonfiction? >> with the novel i think for me particularly there's room to play with the language more, play with images more, and to actually maybe explain some things, occurrences, you know, expands them a little more, maybe traumatized them a little bit more. those also tied into things that are not necessary related to the same time period.

so in a way that's what are really wanted to do in this novel. where i talk about things that existed before the war and after the war exist again at a different magnitude. so try to put them together i think for me that allows me to do that. >> what is this in the novel? >> it's a town. it's looked at ineffectual away. it's a remote part of the country where, you know, people that really get to hear about it. these are places that were devastated by the war more strongly, people go back home and try to live there again, starting from scratch but imagine going back on your village that has been destroyed for more and to return and it is putting much all gone. you've got to start with that. how to do that with your family? how to find a way, how do you live with a neighbor who may

have been your inmate during the war, and how do you come you know, we the fabric of the committee back together again, what do you lose? what do you gain? tuna, how to get around all of these things. so that's what i discussed in the book. >> after "a long way gone" was publisher first trip back to sierra leone for what was that like? >> it was very, very difficult in the sense is going back to replace that -- function as a soldier, a boy soldier and also as a child. and i was going back as a young adult who had written and had some notoriety now. so it was her difficult, for example, just look at the places. it brought back a lot of difficult memories but also that people recognize me as well. >> are you well known in sierra leone speak was yet the young. i am, but i tried to hide under the radar.

when i dare and i'm in my flip-flops and shorts, and i speak to let which is very well so i just tried to be a regular person. because i want to observe how people are feeling. i become a regular person when i am there. >> now, "radiance of tomorrow" is coming out in january 2014. have you finished the book at? >> yes, i have finished the book. it's coming out, just looking for a cover. we already have some -- this is -- >> what we are seeing here in this little booklet is not going to be the cover, correct? >> the type that you have on the will be the same thing and this picture will be in the backend will be another cover on the front that is very tough and from this one. it's done, it's coming out. >> is this book written more in the tradition of sierra leone

rather than "a long way gone"? >> it's written in my storytelling way. everything i write is always like this. for me, i think when you write about any human experience, you know, you two choices. you can write about it in a very, like big terms and kind of -- or you can do very simple, beautiful poignant story. and then people can draw those conclusions that you wanted to draw. you don't need to give them the three about the political climate in this country is like this. i will never say that in my book. i will just describe how the audience and the public and the people who live in the country, and then the reader would know. so, for example, i always make an example, instead of saying joan cried, i will show that john cried. so they experience what is happening, supposed to be told. so this is how i write.

this comes from the old traditional storytelling. you have to capture the imagination and bring them to the landscape so they can see, hear, smell and be part of the experience. so you have to bring, tap into the imagination. >> where did the title come from? >> "radiance of tomorrow," the title comes from somewhere in the book where there's a strong character who is a woman, based on my grandmother returned, and she's trying to tell the old stories to some of the young people. so it really comes from particular events in the book where she's telling the story about why she continues to be hopeful. this is where the title comes from. >> you talk in your second book, "radiance of tomorrow," about the war that never ends. you make a mention of the civil war, the 10 year war that is really never ended. >> yes, because the sets of, the

physical wounds are the ones that are more visible and are the ones that can heal quicker. everyone can see that. the internal woods, psychological ones, those are the ones that take a much longer time. so the war make ends physically, but all the things that continue to brew under the table, so that takes a much longer time. >> and why that is going on people showed undefined way to live together. because you're going to put your life on hold for that in before you can continue living. continue living while he tried to mend what has been broken. so it's a very, very difficult, it's a very careful thing to require a lot of patience. requires people coming into society and everyon and a but wo look at the differences because ugv, there'll always be a killer. so you have to find a way to

reconcile. >> have you reconciled yourself from this, being a boy soldier? >> to some extent. there's nothing i could do to undo what had happened, but with the memories you can never forget them so you learn to live with the memories of war. and you learn to not react because you're not in charge of that. what triggers an emotion from you from the war or flashback, i have no control. it could be the simplest thing by somebody just wanting -- all have control of, thinking maybe i'm standing on the point of some street in washington, d.c. or new york and someone won't talk to you. sitting at a different country, that's all i can do but i will never be able to forget. that's the difficulty living with the memories of for. as you grow older you to find ways to do with them so you

don't pass it on to people that are close to, family and things like that. >> what was the expense of writing "a long way gone" and "radiance of tomorrow"? how are they alike? how are they different? where did you buy from? >> they are very different. when i was riding "a long way gone" i never finished publishing it. just tried to really find a way to find in my thinking in case of asked about what went on in my country. so i would be able to speak five, 10 minutes in a very succinct way about what i wanted to say. and then later on it became a book that i agreed to publish. were as this one i wrote with intention of publishing it. so this was written when i was an undergraduate. this has been written in six countries. i wrote it in new york. i wrote it in italy. i wrote in sierra leone.

everywhere, you know? >> have you grown used to living in the state? >> yes, yes. i go home frequently, you know. [inaudible] >> i live between the two cultures. i find myself between the two. it's wonderful for my life, for my thinking, for my writing. >> how has "a long way gone" changed you, change her family because of its success at? >> it changed my life completely. this is the first book along with -- when it first came out, because of the content people may not read it and all the rest of it, and it took on a life of its own. beyond what i expected. i really did not understand what it meant to be a public person.

so i had a few mistakes that i've made, not mistakes, i was a regular kid, you know? i just graduate from college to win the book came out, a friend of my, college buddy and i moved into an apartment and we set up a telephone and i gave them my name. all of a sudden we started getting these calls. 20, 30, 40 calls a day. is this ishmael? yeah. why are they doing that? my friend would say, because you are famous. also when "the new york times" magazine had a photograph on the on the front cover, and i was on the subway in new york and one sunday morning and i'm sitting there, and later on everybody open that page, my face was there. i left the train. it was funny to me, you know? i'm a simple person and i remain that way. it was interesting.

but it changed my life tremendously. >> from "radiance of tomorrow," it is in the end or maybe the beginning of another star. every story begins and ends with a woman, a mother, a grandmother, a girl, a child. every story. >> i believe that strong because i think, again, going to the idea of the oral tradition storytelling, you start with something you're discovering, and at the end it is full-grown, you know? of every story, you're giving birth to something, and idea, i thought, you're introducing people to new landscape. so you're bringing them a life. because every story is a birth, and women are the ones who give birth to all of us in the world, so every story starts with that. this is from the old traditions

that i grew up, being a part of, you know? and mike redman also been a very strong person in my life. and actually my moral philosophy. she tells me the most simple things. you will understand 10 years from now. now i understand it. so that's what this is about. >> what is sierra leone like to be? >> sierra leone is coming along, you know? the war ended officially 2002, and since then a lot of development has been coming slowly. a lot of people like myself are returning back and doing projects or start a small businesses, and people are going back on. but really the climate instill discipline in the sense that the politicians are still not the ones we want to be, in terms of people who can move this country forward. be at the service of the people and the country, so that is still a problem. these are some the reasons why the war started, because we

didn't have a government to really care for the people. it's a very small country. so somebody is really interested in shaping this country to be one of the best countries in the world, it can be done. but we have leaders that care for themselves and how wealthy the want to be. so we have to redefine the idea of leadership in sierra leone. it doesn't mean when you're in our you are the almighty, but you are at the service, public service. you are not there to be a tyrant or to do whatever you like and to embezzled the funds. these other problems we're having, but the country is very safe. we have free and fair elections, two or three elections that was no violence. they are moving along slowly. >> do you still see a lot of amputees at? >> yes. still remnants of the war. part of the country is a very remote, which i write about and "radiance of tomorrow."

they are not in the capital city where a lot of development happen first. so yes, you still see a lot of people. a lot of people were very dignified. they have come to the fact that look, there's nothing you can do. your hand was chopped off all your foot and you've got to live on with your life. that's one thing i love about my people. if it wasn't for that, none of us would've, of what happened in sierra leone spent and you are watching the tv c-span2. "radiance of tomorrow," ishmael beah's second book is coming out in january of 2014. >> visit booktv.org to watch any of the programs you see here online. type the author a book titled in the search bar on the upper left side of the page and click search. you can share anything you see on booktv.org easily by

clicking share on the upper left side of the page and selecting the format. booktv streams live online for 48 hours every week and with top nonfiction books and authors. booktv.org. now on booktv, on she meant talks about the follow up for best selling memoir. she discusses what her life has been like since moving to the united states from china in 1984. does for other programs from the recent "chicago tribune" printer's row lit fest. >> thank you for this great turnout. i'm really excited to be here today with anchee min. i read her first book, read israeli, back in 1995 think sure that it came out and i soon some of you have read it. it was the first installment of her memoir about growing up during the cultural revolution in