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2025 Longlist

The Incredible Dreams Of Garba Dakaskus

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ABOUT
THE BOOK

The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus is a philosophical quest through time in search of a book with obscure origins, which might contain the secrets of the alphabet and offer the reader a divine glimpse behind the veil that shrouds our plane of existence. It is the story of a narrator, whose journey is delicately interwoven with innumerable characters and stories from across time and space, on an existential search for the meaning of life, the universe, and the essence of what it means to be a living being. Umar Abubakar Sidi’s debut novel is wildly ambitious, big-hearted, and unapologetically strange. It’s a true banquet for the mind and intellect.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Umar
Abubakar Sidi

Umar Abubakar Sidi is a poet, soldier, aviator, and author of Masobe’s first poetry collection “Like Butterflies Scattered about by Art Rascals.” A helicopter pilot with the Nigerian Navy, he attended the prestigious Nigerian Military School, Zaria and the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna. He is the author of the poetry collection, “The Poet of Dust.” Sidi’s work is majorly premised on the exploration of the body, soul and spirit from Sufi and Surrealist perspectives. His works have appeared in Brittle Paper, Transition Magazine, Jalada, Saraba Magazine and elsewhere. The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus is his first novel.

Umar Abubakar Sidi is a poet, soldier, aviator, and author of Masobe’s first poetry collection “Like Butterflies Scattered about by Art Rascals.” A helicopter pilot with the Nigerian Navy, he attended the prestigious Nigerian Military School, Zaria and the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna. He is the author of the poetry collection, “The Poet of Dust.” Sidi’s work is majorly premised on the exploration of the body, soul and spirit from Sufi and Surrealist perspectives. His works have appeared in Brittle Paper, Transition Magazine, Jalada, Saraba Magazine and elsewhere. The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus is his first novel.

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NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

Umar Abubakar Sidi’s novel The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus has dominated conversations since its publication earlier this year. This is a book that has excited many of the visitors to our library and has generated lots of conversations about what a novel is and what its endless possibilities are. Sidi’s novel introduces the idea of making the book the center of a novel. It is split into four parts: The Book of Mysterious Narrations, The Memoirs of Al-Sudani, The Book of Sorcery and the Evolution of Superstitious Allusions, and the Book of Injurious Disclosures, all of which revolve around another book, A Guide to The Secret of the Alphabets. This last book is authored by an 11th-century scholar, Al Juzjani, and is rumored to contain the secret of human knowledge, making it highly coveted, including by some of the most unsavory characters who must be protected from. It is believed to be in the possession of Garba Dakaskus, a loquacious and mysterious character who is not at all what we thought he was. Hunted by assassins commissioned by a Dubai-based literary agency desperate to obtain the book, Dakaskus is forced into hiding in a small village in Sokoto, from where he takes the readers on fascinating temporal and spatial narrative journeys that are sometimes allegorical, sometimes philosophical, and sometimes contemplative and metaphysical. Dakaskus’ fabulous tales are told in poetic, lyrical language and make references to other books, real and imagined, to transport the reader to ancient Arabia and Timbuktu, among others, and introduce a diverse range of morally gray and equally fascinating human and animal characters, such as the just caliph who also happens to be incestuous, Tapan the righteous red monkey devoted to protecting the book, and the wise parrot that becomes the advisor to the caliph. The main reason for nominating this book is our readers’ endless fascination with it. Never before have we had a piece of experimental fiction generate so much interest. In a way reminiscent of Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus is its own kind of unique beast that champions a newer genre of writing: mysticism. It is both fascinating and sometimes frustrating for our readers. From our book club, we have learned that this is the sort of book that those who understand it love, while those who don’t pretend to. The blurb from the Nigerian author, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, stating “You have never read anything like this,” often proves prophetic for most readers, if not all. In the author’s words, “the book is a love letter to the pleasure of reading,” and since its publication, its appeal to critical readers has grown exponentially. Through these words and in the book, the author’s love for reading becomes evident, as does his interesting life. He is a Nigerian Navy helicopter pilot, a renowned poet, an eclectic reader, and a champion and promoter of the arts and artists. He is known to support various art initiatives in Nigeria, such as the Poetic Wednesday Initiative and the Book’o Clock initiative, which promote literature and reading in Sokoto. One of the finest merits of this book is the delicacy with which it is woven and how this delicate construct carries the reader through the lives of countless fascinating and chaotic characters from different times and places, taking the reader on a quest for the meaning of life and the essence of being a living being. (Abdullah’ı Muhammad Public Library) The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus by Umar Abubakar Sidi is a novel that challenges narrative form, especially linear perspectives of storytelling. The resonant and mesmerising novel delves deep into various sub-plots narrated by an anxious and psychotic intellectual and keeper of secrets. The narrative landscape of the work is internationalist as it traverses the various modern cities without losing its magic and folklore. Drawing inspiration from the works of Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges and Ben Okri, the novel also explores both the mystical, historical while places primacy on the magical prowess of books. With the author’s poetic prowess, he finds a confluence between magic realism, surrealism and the evolution of secrets, the rise and fall of monarchs, and the nature of man. He also gives animals voice and nuance to contest the colonialism of narratives with man, leading to a robust rebellion of the species. Sidi is a poet, aviator and author of two collections of poems, the most recent being “Like Butterflies Scattered about by Art Rascals.” The book was shortlisted for the Association of Nigerian Authors/KMVL Poetry Prize in 2023. He is also the author of the celebrated poetry book, The Poet of Dust. Sidi’s work is majorly premised on the exploration of the body, soul and spirit from the Sufi and Surrealist perspectives. His works have appeared in literary platforms like Brittle Paper, Transition, Jalada, Saraba, and elsewhere. He lives in Lagos, Nigeria. The Incredible Dreams of Garba Dakaskus is his first novel. (The Kofi Awoonor Memorial Library)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
10/06/2024
Country
Nigeria
Original Language
English
Publisher
MASOBE BOOKS

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