AUTHOR

NVASEKIE N. KONNEH is a Liberian writer, poet, magazine publisher, community activist who has traveled frequently to Liberia, US and Europe. Years before coming to the United States in 1995, Nvasekie Konneh’s commentaries and poems on politics, arts and culture appeared regularly in the Eye newspaper and the Monrovia Daily News and occasionally in the Inquirer and the New Democrat.

While living in New York City, his articles appeared in the African Voices literary magazine as well as the City Sun and the Black Star News newspapers. In April 2002, he participated and won the First Place Award in the Liberian Civil War poetry competition held in Providence, Rhodes Island under the sponsorship of the Liberian Community Association of Rhodes Island. The winning poem in that competition was "Scene of Sorrow II". In 2003, the prolific Liberian writer and poet published his first book of poems titled Going to War for America.

To the surprise of many who had admired his writings back in Liberia and who hoped he would continue to pursue his writings in the States, Nvasekie Konneh enlisted in the US Navy in August 1996. He served for nine unbroken years between 1996 and 2005. While serving in the US Navy, Nvasekie Konneh made two deployments on board the USS Detroit, a navy logistic ship based at the Navy Weapon Station, Earle, New Jersey. His last deployment was part of the Operation Desert Fox, an American-British military engagement against the regime of Saddam Hussein in December 1998 after his expulsion of the UN weapon inspectors. Nvasekie’s ship, USS Detroit was also part in the operation to liberate Kosovo. From September 2000 to September 2003, he took assignment in Philadelphia with the SALTS Team at the Naval Inventory Control Point (NAVICP).

After his three-year shore duty, Nvasekie Konneh’s next assignment took him to the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) or the "IKE" as the aircraft carrier is affectionately called. The IKE is home-ported in Norfolk, Virginia.

While serving on active duty in the U. S. Navy, Nvasekie Konneh did not burry his activist side. He was the founding chairman of the National Civil Right Movement (NCRM), a Philadelphia based Liberian pro-democracy and human rights organization. Through this organization, Nvasekie Konneh led more than 700 people in demonstration in Washington DC on September 16, 2002 at the Liberian Embassy, demanding the unconditional release of the then imprisoned Liberian journalist, Hassan Bility, and other who were illegally detained by the brutal regime of Charles Taylor. Few months later, he led another demonstration in Washington DC, this time at the U.S. Capitol against the continued illegal detention of Liberian human rights activist, Aloysius Toe and others.

Since leaving the US Navy in 2005, Nvasekie Konneh has frequently traveled to Liberia, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Europe to engage in literary as well as cultural promotional activities.

He launched the art and culture magazine, The Uptown Review on January 7, 2011 in Monrovia, Liberia. He’s also the original producer and promoter of the Liberian Mandingo singer, Massebe Kamara. His book, “The Land of My Father’s Birth” was launched in February 2013. Other literary projects he’s working on include “The Love of Liberty Brought Us Together,” a collection of poetry and “Liberian Voices,” an anthology of book reviews and interviews with contemporary Liberian writers. The recurring themes in Nvasekie's works are war, peace, and love. His poems militate against social political injustice as well as celebrate ethnic and cultural diversity in Liberia. Though he’s a committed Muslim, he sees the world beyond religious prism. He currently working on a documentary on ethnic and cultural diversity in Liberia.