The Conference of the Birds

Award-winning translator Sholeh Wolpé recaptures the beauty and lyricism of one of Persian literature's most celebrated masterpieces.

Considered by Rumi to be "the master" of Sufi mystic poetry, Attar is best known for his epic poem The Conference of the Birds, a magnificent allegorical tale about the soul's search for meaning. The poem recounts the perilous journey of the world's birds to the faraway peaks of Mount Qaf—a mythical mountain that wraps around the earth—in search of the mysterious Simurgh, their king. Attar's beguiling anecdotes and humor intermingle the sublime with the mundane, the spiritual with the worldly, and the religious with the metaphysical. Reflecting the entire evolution of Sufi mystic tradition, Attar's poem models the soul's escape from the mind's rational embrace. S

holeh Wolpé is an award-winning poet in English as well as an award-winning translator. She re-creates the intense beauty of the original Persian in...