In modern Dagestan there is a bright, intense social and political life - and at the same time there is no pronounced literary process. Current events and issues are understood within the framework of reporter journalism and journalism. The republic has, perhaps, the largest number of multidirectional and independent newspapers in Russia. But immersion in everyday modernity prevents me from creating its multi-valued, voluminous artistic image. Gulla Khirachev, the author of this story, was himself invented by me - at a distance from my homeland, under someone else’s name, it was easier for me to distance myself from momentary life experience and try to express the details in dialogue, a scene the contradictory reality of today's Dagestan. I am glad that, having won the “Debut” 2009 competition, Gulla Khirachev’s story became the object of some interest: I hope that in her native republic she will play the role of one of the catalysts for the development of contemporary literature.

Alice GANIEVA