Meet The Writer: Muhammad Gulani

Dear Hopefuls,

Today we are doing something different,
We are appreciating Art.
Our appreciation is on:

Muhammad Gulani
Author: The Dream And Other Stories (2016)

B.A Archaeology (In View)
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
He is a Writer, a Poet and an Activist
Pioneer, Our Shared Hope

We share with you the review of his work:
A Risk Well Taken by Bello Zayyad

Muhammad Gulani deserves a place on the shelf of the writers library for he has a lot of beautiful and touching young stories to tell.

- Abdulsalam Rabiu

(OurSharedHope recognizes Abdulsalam Rabiu, Sketch Artist/C.E.O of Ghost Art Designs)

Muhammad Gulani is indeed mapping out a new Northern Nigeria and a new wold of storytelling.

- Ibrahim Usman

Al-Hikmah University, Illorin

In ten short stories, Gulani takes us on an adventure:

In The Dream, a woman heads a country but looses out on her identity as she looses her place in society. 

Love is a pure and powerful force, Laila and Feifers takes us back to relive their Memories.

In I Will Marry When I Want Gulani takes us to a society where child marriage is the norm but our young Katana makes choices of her own.

In her pursuit of education and success, she forgets about happiness and love only to regret this after achieving it all in the Over-Educated Black Woman 

A RISK WELL TAKEN

A review of Muhammad Gulani’s The Dream and Other Stories

By: Bello Zayyad

Feminism, a word with a thousand definitions. A word whose controversies know no end, a word drowned upon by the intense echoes of the unjust. Muhammad Gulani took a huge risk, summoning up the courage he never knew he had and dared bring to the table a controversial concept in a series of short stories. The risk actually paid off resulting in an enjoyable work with most of the stories raising the bars high while others lagged behind not because they fell below average but because they failed to match the charm of the brilliantly written stories.

The book with its deceptive yet intriguing cover denies you the opportunity to predict what it had in store for you (I.e if you choose to ignore the back cover). The author left no stones untouched to dig out those dead voices of opportunistic and ambitious women out there accompanied by unintentional flaws which were unexpectedly compensated with richly written stories despite the noticeable slow pacing in the initial stories which unfortunately couldn't be ignored. Also, the author deliberately (or probably unintentionally) confused the readers slightly due to the arrangement of the stories which we believed were not chronological but desperately non-fictional. Despite his obvious claims to make us believe that Memories was directly inspired by his real life complicated love life with a former flame, we knew there was more to it. The reason behind this statement of mine is drawn from a personal criticism.  You can't help but wonder why “Feifers” (who we suspect is the author himself) was briefly shown to have found love again with “Hubby” in the controversial yet enjoyable The Over-Educated Black Woman “Laila” on the other hand was said to be with “Ted” on a sofa discussing their love life which the author claimed was “Foreign” to the people present. Excuse me for these spoilers but at this juncture the author can deny anything but the fact is that he is “Feifers” and Fatima Aliyu is “Laila” (Sounds obvious, huh? DUH!) They have both moved on but still have feelings for each other and the bitter truth that “Ted” and “Hubby” were just being “used” in this seemingly unending love saga. However, the book is not an autobiography and our only source of evidence is the dedication of Memories…To Fatima Aliyu” Nevertheless, we would get the answers to our curious and stupid questions in his upcoming works.

Back to the matter at hand, I would review each of the stories in a particular order and not as they came in the book.

1.      Memories

Sweet, romantic, genuine and highly relatable. I can vehemently say that it is one of the best works in the book. This is because the author shockingly made us to not only feel for the protagonists but also feel like them. He showed us a personal guide to emotions and desperations in a complicated supposed one-sided love. A work which can only come from an author of immense talent that made us suspect the works originality. Although we were touched at the dedication, we hated the author for not making this particular story into a full novel with the likes of “Beautiful Disaster” , “The Weeping heart” and “Hired For The Master’s Bedroom” flooding our minds. It was that good.

2.      Girlie Prints

I found this work similar to “Memories”. It also dealt with a persons desperation from the inside out. Zainab Adamu’s involvement was obvious as the tone slightly drifted from feminism to realism in such a pure and honest way. However, despite the work being somehow relatable, I have to criticize the protagonists’ way of seeing life only from the dark side making us believe that some people depended on others to be happy (which is actually true) and not learning to adjust to whatever it is that life has to offer.

3.      The Dream

Muhammad Gulani
Zaria Academy Awards 2015

We had no choice but to give up our guesses to why the author chose this work to appear in the collection despite having much better stories than it. Possibly he saved the best for latter as we obviously noticed that he got better by each story. What we don't know is whether he wrote the stories in a chronological order. This story deals with the sexism faced by women in the world we found out, it also did justice by enlightening on the consequences likely to occur to the acts of desperation by feminists. Muhammad Gulani proved to be not only a feminist but a realist in this work and luckily, it paid off.

4.      I Will Marry When I Want/I Want To Marry

It is similarities to “The Dream”. It's undeniable yet it is far better than the latter. The two merged stories are nothing but the word FEMINISM written in bold. Despite being not realistic at all especially in this part of the country, we have to admit is is beautifully written despite the fast pacing. It is not an averagely written story either but it dare not stand near “Memories” or “Celebration” or even “Girlie Prints”

5.      Lesson Never Learnt

Indeed, a mother is a priceless Jewell that no one can ever buy. She is one irreplaceable creature and obviously one of the best gifts the world had to offer. This story did not just stop at touching our souls with bare cold hands but gathered the courage we never saw coming and weakened our bones entirely. The only thing it left us was a cold whispering prayer on our dry lips to not end up like the protagonist, its’ effects implanted in our hearts an immense love not only to our mothers but also to our dear ones. The touching narration overshadowed all the flaws in the story.

6.      One Mans’ Vote

The most formal and intense story of the collection should be expected to come with lots of guts and controversies. “One Mans’ Vote” is the kind of story that you can't help but wish every citizen of your country reads. It was smartly written to address all the bitter truth we always choose to ignore as citizens of our country. Different factors such as tribalism, religious and racial bigotry, sexism and other forms of discrimination are brought to the table whenever the votes of the masses are required by the ruthless and selfish politicians. This work discusses the issue from the inside out and reminded us that a system built to divide us cannot stand. The author should be really proud of this work as it is intensely flawless.

7.      Celebration

Interestingly this is amongst my three best stories in the collection despite my efforts to not rate the work from my least favorite to my personal best. The story automatically lifts your soul to cloud nine with the intention of dropping you in a fantasy land but instead you become trapped in a bubble which takes you on a colorful adventure to visually experience the beauty of the world. I personally recommend this story to the protagonist in “Girlie Prints”. This is just a perfection as its best from start to finish, period.

8.      Prediction

This is the one I loved and hated at the same time, what a paradox huh? I know right? What I loved about it was its genuineness, narration and the fact that it spontaneously took a best Friend relationship to another level from a dirty perspective which I personally enjoyed. What I hated about it however, was the impact it had on me. “Prediction” was beautifully written on a paper soiled completely in suspense, flooded by a fountain of an exciting adventure. The story is so on the money and yes that second to the last paragraph was worth dying for. It's such a difficult task to decide on which was a better story amongst “Prediction” and “Celebration” and “Memories” as they all raised the bar high enough be out of the sights of the other works excluding “One Mans’ Vote”

9.      The Over-Educated Black Woman

Luckily I saved the best for last. If only Jane Austen had lived another century would this work had been read by millions of people out there. Despite having the unnoticeable “Feifers – Laila – Ted – Hubby” controversial distraction in it, it was a winner. Roaring itself past all the other stories in the collection (surprisingly including “Celebration” and “Prediction”). It raised the bar yet again but this time to sky limit becoming the only memorable work in the whole book. Yeah, you read that right. The twist and suspense in it cannot be ignored either, especially when you realize that the book the protagonist read at the end contains the same story you read (spooky right?. The story had the soul needed by “Girlie Prints” and “I Want To Marry”. In fact saying that this is the authors finest work is an understatement which feels like he is being denied the credits he truly deserves. It also always comes to mind whenever you come across a hardcore reader be it male or female, which makes you pray silently, hoping they don't end up as “The Over-Educated Black Woman”. Just like when William Shakespeare released “Romeo And Juliet” no other previous work of his mattered, “The Over-Educated Black Woman” stood tall while carving a niche for itself where no other stories mattered anymore. In fact, there is just nothing boring in this work from start to finish, the pacing was also a winner.

It is quite challenging for one to judge the book as a whole however, it's definitely  what you would recommend to a friend, book reader or not because you don't just want them to enjoy the stellar stories but also to be part of the experience. Take away the errors and you will find the perfect debut for such a mind blowing talent. Kudos! To the author: Muhammad Gulani – the next big thing. We will all be looking forward to your best work till date.