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Moses, Citizen and Me
- Author: Delia Jarrett-Macauley
- Category: Fiction
- Publisher: Granta Books(UK)
- Pub date: 7 February 2005
- Length: 256 pages
About Moses, Citizen and Me
winner of the Orwell prize 2006
A deftly sensitive exploration of a tormented generation and a family’s dilemma, it is a haunting piece of fiction
— THE GUARDIAN
Citizen, an eight-year-old child soldier, has been forced to execute his own grandmother during the recent civil war in Sierra Leone, leaving Moses, his grandfather, grief-stricken and angry. Julia, a relative from Britain, is summoned to Freetown to assist her Uncle Moses. Struggling to face the truth of what has happened, but willing to try, Julia begins to make significant discoveries about their discordant lives, the war and the ‘silent’ Citizen. She recalls her own childhood, uncovers her Uncle’s early impulsive love affair, and witnesses Citizen’s continuing nightmares.
For a time, normal contact with neighbours promises to ease the family’s trauma but it is not to be that straightforward. Only by journeying into the African rainforest where the fighting took place can Julia and Citizen meet other child soldiers through the Mende sage, Bemba G.
Bemba G. holds the power to shift the former child soldiers away from the savagery of war and return many to childhood. In his enchanted compound all the pain of child soldiery is exposed through the daily rituals of food, play and acting until Citizen is ready to communicate again, rebuild his life and find redemption.
About the Author
Delia Jarrett-Macauley (DMS, Ph.D., FRSA) is an acomplished writer, academic and broadcaster with a career spanning over 20 years. Her impressive body of work is held in high regard both nationally and internationally.
Since the mid-1980s, Delia has worked extensively in the cultural sector, including a period as Director of the Independent Theatre Council, and later as a consultant to Arts Council England. She also managed the pan-African dance summer school and co-ordinated educational projects for African Players. In the 1990s she was joint director of the National Theatre’s project, Transmission, which focused on arts and social change in Europe.
In 1998, she published THE LIFE OF UNA MARSON, a biography of the Jamaican poet, social activist and feminist. Her first novel, MOSES, CITIZEN & ME, won the Orwell prize for political writing in 2006.
Delia has contributed to a number of academic publications as author and board member including Feminist Review, Women’s History Review, Journal of Gender Studies and Gender and History. She now lives in South London, where she is writing her second novel.