“Haleh Liza Gafori’s ecstatic and piercing translation has lifted a veil, bringing Rumi closer into the quick of our present. Each poem is a divine invitation. Free your mind. Drown in love.”
– V (formerly Eve Ensler)















Haleh Liza Gafori is a translator, vocalist, poet, and educator born in New York City of Iranian descent. Her latest work, is a translation of Rumi poems entitled Gold. I first heard one of her translations of Rumi sitting around a campfire on a Sunday morning in Patagonia, Arizona. I was bit by the passion and this conversation does not disappoint. Haleh and I converse about being raised in a family that celebrates poetry, how a translator’s work is never done alone, what clergy of today might learn from Rumi’s transformation, translating as a spiritual practice, and much more.



Visit Haleh at halehliza.com | @halehliza















Episode Show Notes



Works by Haleh Liza Gafori




Gold (Book)



Morning (Music)



Paratrooper (Music)



No Ceiling (Music)



Entire music listing








Resources & People Mentioned




Fran Quinn



99 Names of God



Rainer Maria Rilke



Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī








Drink Recommendation




Aragh eh gol
















Photo by Matt Kilmer

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