It is acknowledged that creative writing, anywhere, remains a rather intensely personal affair, without being private. And indeed, it is because of the lack of privacy in creative writing that a nation should encourage the growth of its literary tradition. Writers do not just tell their stories or poets show their emotions; in their moods, they assume a multidimensional posture so as to be able to tell universally acceptable stories to appeal to different human senses. The contributors to this anthology are mostly first time writers, whose works have not appeared in mainstream literary journals and publications. While a few names among these contributors may be known in the local Sierra Leonean literary circles as having produced one kind of work or the other, their names are largely unknown outside of Sierra Leone. This situation has to change and is the reason that Leoneanthology has been compiled and published.

The stories in the anthology flash different pictures of being in their unique time capsules. The writers have examined the toll the collective human trauma has taken and brought on board on the Sierra Leonean way of life, a way of life that now requires a new way of life. 'In the Belly of the Lion' represents the voices of the generation of writers whose works came of age in the middle of the war and after...

“The spirit of search pervades the whole collection with recurring images of the poet looking through windows into vast expanses of landscape and seascape, into the Lion Mountains of his country, into its trees, listening to the sound of its rivers, its birds and its people. Gbanabom Hallowell is always conscious of his responsibility as a poet to his country.” Eldred Durosimi Jones, Editor, African Literature Today and author, Othello’s Countryme

"The spirit of search pervades the whole collection with recurring images of the poet looking through windows into vast expanses of landscape and seascape, into the Lion Mountains of his country, into its trees, listening to the sound of its rivers, its birds and its people. Gbanabom Hallowell is always conscious of his responsibility as a poet to his country." --Eldred Durosimi Jones, Editor, "African Literature Today" and author, "Othello's Countrymen"

Since 1991, this West African nation has been brought to its knees by a series of coups, violent conflicts, and finally, outright war. The war has ended today, but it is clear that things are hardly settled. Focusing on the group spearheading the violence, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), journalist Lansana Gberie exposes the corruption and appalling use of rape and mutilation as tactics to overthrow the former government. Gberie looks closely at the rise of the RUF and its ruthless leader, Foday Sankoh, as he seeks to understand the personalities and parties involved in the war.

A blistering new thriller about the horrors of war and the struggle to survive in the face of pure evil. Foreign correspondent Connie Burns is hunting a British mercenary that she believes is responsible for the rape and murder of five women in Sierra Leone in 2002. Two years later she finds him training Iraqi police in Baghdad. Connie is determined to expose his crimes, but then she is kidnapped and released after three days of unspeakable torture. Silently, she returns to England and attempts to isolate herself, but it soon becomes apparent that the horrors of the world and her own nightmarish past aren’t so easy to escape from.

Winner of the 1991 Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Syl Cheney-Coker's acclaimed debut novel, The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar traces the history of a nation's rise and fall, as prophesied by an ancient sorcerer. A military general sits in one of Malagueta's prison cells, awaiting his execution. He has just failed to overthrow the government. In the same land, over two centuries ago, the wife of a formerly enslaved man takes her first steps towards freedom. From the creation of Malagueta to its devastating fall, Alusine Dunbar, the wizened old diviner, has prophesied it all. And what he sees, he calls a tragedy. One of Sierra Leone's most renowned novelists and poets, Sly Cheney-Coker creates a world teeming with magical realism as he paints the journey from precolonial Africa to its shaky independence.