Not many first novels feature a foreword by the President of the author’s country.  But Liberian author Elma Shaw’s Redemption Road: the Quest for Peace and Justice in Liberia, opens with a Foreword by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.  An endorsement of such gravitas puts a lot of pressure on a book to be good, and Redemption Road more than meets the challenge.  Redemption Road is the recounting of Liberia’s process of healing from the wounds of its civil war and the efforts of the nation and its people to rebuild themselves individually and collectively.  Through the eyes of fictional characters who speak the truth of what Liberians experienced during the war and its aftermath, Ms. Shaw shows that she truly understands the restorative power of words.  Ms. Shaw spoke to Jamati and other attendees of her book discussion at the Culture Shop in Washington, D.C. about her inspiration and hopes for Redemption Road.

Elma Shaw at the Culture Shop in Washington, D.C

Ms. Shaw, who lives in Liberia, is a writer, filmmaker and founder of the Liberian HOPE Fund, an organization which provides scholarships, educational support and mentoring to teenage girls in Liberia.  She says she wrote Redemption Road because, “I just wanted to do something to help people understand where we had been and why we were at the point we were at.”  Redemption Road’s storyline mirrors the one which is currently unfolding in Liberia.  The main character, Bendu, is a counselor to traumatized survivors of the war, who herself is unable to come to terms with what she experienced after she was kidnapped and spent a year living in the bush with rebel fighters.  When the warlord who held her captive suddenly appears in town, Bendu decides that she must bring him to justice as a way of healing herself and giving a voice to the many other war survivors who can not speak for themselves.  Like many other conflicts in Africa, Liberia’s civil war is often referred to as “senseless”, as though Africans are just pathologically driven to destroying themselves.  Although it is a work of fiction, Redemption Road provides valuable insight into the long-simmering causes of the Liberian civil war and offers a prescription for preventing future conflict.

Awo and Elma Shaw

As a testament to her background in humanitarian work, Ms. Shaw is using Redemption Road as a tool in Liberia’s healing and rebuilding process.  Through partnerships with non-profit organizations, the book will be translated into Liberian English and made available in a low-cost paperback version.  It will also be required reading at the University of Liberia.  Ms. Shaw plans to hold discussions and workshops in Liberia during which Liberians will write letters about their own war experiences.  She plans to turn the letters into a non-fiction book.  Of her passion for using Redemption Road to help facilitate redemption in Liberia, Ms. Shaw says, “I want us to have a dialogue.  I want the nation to start talking about the things we’ve done to each other.  If we don’t, we could find ourselves right back in the same circumstances that got us to where we were.”

While Redemption Road is a riveting and powerful work of fiction, it is also a book with a mission.  As expressed in the foreword by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, “Redemption Road reminds us of our tragic past but it also shows us that peace, justice, reconciliation, progress, and development are attained if we only try a little harder.”