The groundbreaking work of acclaimed poet and translator Coleman Barks has made a 13th century Sufi mystic the best-selling poet in America today. It is said that only Coleman Barks can capture Rumi's themes of silence, emptiness, play, God, peace, grief, sexuality, music and more. Don't miss this opportunity to hear Barks breathe life into one of the great spiritual masters and poetic geniuses of all time. He is joined by vocalist Chloƫ Goodchild.Coleman Barks was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He taught poetry and creative writing at the University of Georgia for thirty years, and went to school at the University of North Carolina and UC Berkeley. In 1976 he met Robert Bly and began translating the 13th century mystic, Rumi. In 1995 the Rumi translations were collected in a definitive best-selling anthology, The Essential Rumi, and his translations of Rumi have now sold a half a million copies. The father of two grown children and grandfather of four, Barks has retired now from university teaching. He lives in Athens, Georgia.