Gbanabom Hallowell born Elvis Jacob Hallowell in Sierra Leone in 1965 was educated at Birch Memorial Secondary School, Makeni and Milton Margai Teachers College (now Milton Margai College of Education), where he studied English. As a teacher, librarian, journalist and a human rights activist he endured his country’s ten year civil war whose experiences have shaped his poetry. Hallowell is currently pursuing an MFA in Writing at Vermont College of The Union Institute & University in the USA. He is the Founder/Executive Director of North America Center for African Writers (NACAW); and he is working on a novel about the war. He lives and works full time in Maryland for MVM, Inc., a security firm.