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Rumi, Molana, Jalal ad-Dīn Mohammad Balkhy (1207-1273), was born in or near the city of Balkh, in present-day Afghanistan. Widely considered the greatest poet of the Persian language, Rumi's major works are the Masnavi, a six-volume collection of mystical teachings, and the Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi, a collection of lyric poetry. He died and was buried in Konya, Turkey. Haleh Liza Gafori is a NYC-born translator, performance artist, writer, and educator of Iranian descent. A 2024 MacDowell fellow, she has translated the poetry of the 13th century mystic and sage Rumi from the original Persian. Her first volume of translations entitled Gold- Poems by Rumi was published by New York Review Books (NYRB) in 2022. Her second volume, Water, also in the NYRB Classics series, will be released in April 2025. Supported by an NYSCA grant, Gafori has created a musical and cross-media performance based on the book and has presented her work via performances, lectures, and workshops, at institutions such as Lincoln Center, Stanford University, the Academy of American Poets, Sarah Lawrence College, and Bradford Literary Fest. Gold has been incorporated in the curricula of universities across the country.
“Haleh Liza Gafori's pitch-perfect translation of Rumi updates and amplifies his mindful, muscular soul. My sense of his poetry, shaped by prior translators, has been rebooted—or entirely, booted—by her prismatic lyricism. Music, wit, and empathy color her lens. What a sweeping, invigorating read.” —Terrance Hayes “These stunning translations of Master Rumi, at once gustatory and spiritual, cut the gloom of our existential doings. Imperative now, as ever, to know this beauty and love.” —Anne Waldman “Water is immediate and timeless. These poems imprint on the heart. To read these verses is to enter mystery and paradox, to be burnished by the sacred fire and broken open by the holiest dance.” —Suleika Jaouad “Gorgeous, fluent, and faithful translations. Gafori renders Rumi’s voice on the page with an original integrity that is as skilled as it is unforgettable.” —Pádraig Ó Tuama “Has there ever been a better moment to read or reread the timeless lyrical wisdom of Rumi? As translator Haleh Liza Gafori reminds us in these elegant new translations, Rumi offers both indelible ground to stand on, and energy to move forward with hope and grace.” —Naomi Shihab Nye “This Rumi speaks to us across time, to offer us a way back into our lives. ‘Now tell me about the God inside. / For once, enter your own house.’ Each poem in this luminous new translation is meant for this moment. ‘If your eyes are polluted, / let your tears wash them. / The cure is in your tears.’ Haleh Liza Gafori is offering us a gift, to light our way home.” —Nick Flynn “Gafori’s elegant translations of Rumi’s poems in Water can change your life. Her fidelity to the original Persian, her understanding of the Sufi context in which these poems sprang to life, and her exquisite musical sensibility make Water essential reading.” —Christopher Merrill “Gafori’s selection boasts idiosyncratic connections and ear-catching tempo changes, from sequences and litanies to unimprovably terse epigrams: ‘Beloved, when your sweetness rains down / the price of rock candy plummets.’” —Christopher Spaide, LitHub
