Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s ‘Dreams and Assorted Nightmares’ for One Read in January 2021.

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s Dreams and Assorted Nightmares is the One Read App offering for January 2021.

One Read is a mobile application, brought to you by Nigeria’s Sterling Bank and Ouida Books, aimed at promoting writers, publishers and other players in the African book industry to create a community of readers. Readers have been getting access to some of the most stunning work today like Travellers by Helon Habila in June, We, The Scarred by Mukoma Wa Ngugi, Not My Time to Die by Yolande Mukagasana, Out of Darkness, Shining Light by Petina Gappah, Prince of Monkeys by Nnamdi Ehirim, and Ukamaka Olisakwe’s Ogadinma.

The selected book for the app for January 2021 is Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s Dreams and Assorted Nightmares. The book’s blurb goes thus;

Zango is a surreal town where men, some with erect manhoods, die when leaves fall from a life tree.

Zango is both setting and spectre for ‘Dreams and Assorted Nightmares’, a collection of interconnecting short stories which explore the spaces between life and death and beyond.

There’s a poignant story of a special needs boy with prescience; another about the family of a philandering artist trying to pick up the pieces after his violent death; one of a teen forced to make a heart-breaking choice after her mother disappears; and another about a woman who reveals a terrible secret to her childhood friend who is in a coma. The characters come richly-layered and memorable — like Naznine who had but slowly lost the most perfect smile in the world; new bride, Nana Aisha, left alone to face armed marauders who invade her home; and brigands, Audu Kore and Maimuna Dajjaj, who share a pure and precious love.

The stories mostly feel mystical and dark, but the palpable compassion with which they are written give them warmth and light. Like rivulets, the stories easily flow into each other, aided by Ibrahim’s signature hypnotic writing and majestic prose. This is a collection to savour especially for its many enigmas — the silent poetry and tragedies of everyday life, the darkness and tenderness of the human mind, and the crossroads between dreams and the supernatural.

Click here to download the One Read App

Comments

2 responses to “Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s ‘Dreams and Assorted Nightmares’ for One Read in January 2021.”

  1. […] Prince of Monkeys by Nnamdi Ehirim, Ukamaka Olisakwe’s Ogadinma, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s Dreams and Assorted Nightmares, Odafe Atogun’s Taduno’s Song and Hadiza Isma El-Rufai’s An Abundance of […]

  2. […] Prince of Monkeys by Nnamdi Ehirim, Ukamaka Olisakwe’s Ogadinma, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s Dreams and Assorted Nightmares, Odafe Atogun’s Taduno’s Song, Hadiza Isma El-Rufai’s An Abundance of Scorpions, […]

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