Acclaimed poet Haleh Liza Gafori returns to discuss her latest translations of Rumi's lyric poetry in Water, with prize-winning poet Maya C. Popa. Water expands on Gold, Haleh Liza Gafori's inspired and widely praised translation of the lyric poetry of the Persian mystic Rumi. As in Gold, Gafori renders with fluid grace and moving immediacy these indisputable masterworks of world literature, drawing on the deep well of Rumi’s work to bring out the worldly wit and wisdom that accompany his otherworldly summons. Behold the divine within and without, he tells us. Question the gnawing hunger for material possessions, fame, and fortune, and the fear of emptiness that drives it. Muster the soul, and experience a more compassionate and liberated state of mind. An eco-poet before his time, Rumi celebrates the immensity and wonder of the natural world while warning us of the havoc that greed and the pursuit of power wreak upon us and our world. His flights of dazzling imagery open up heart-stopping glimpses of the divine, challenging readers to wake from oblivion, and above all, to surrender to the transformative power of Love. Gafori is an acclaimed vocalist and musician as well as a gifted linguist and poet, and in her translations Rumi's poetry sings and beckons as nowhere else. Hers is the work, as the poet Marilyn Hacker has said, "of someone who is at once an acute and enamored reader of the original Farsi text, a dedicated miner of context and backstory, and, best of all, a marvelous poet in English.” A 2024 MacDowell fellow, and recipient of a 2023 NYSCA grant, Gafori has created a musical and cross-media performance based on her translations and has presented her work via performances, lectures, and workshops, at institutions such as Lincoln Center, Stanford University, Le Poisson Rouge, the Academy of American Poets, Sarah Lawrence College, and Bradford Literary Fest. Doors open 30 minutes before the event.
New York City, NY; NYC