Opening the Heart Through Ecstatic Poetry: Coleman Barks at TEDxUGA

For 30 years, until retirement in 1997, Dr. Coleman Barks taught poetry and creative writing at the University of Georgia. As a professor emeritus, Dr. Barks still resides in Athens and writes and publishes under his own imprint, Maypop Books, as well as HarperCollins, the University of Georgia Press, and others. In addition to several poetry collections and books, Dr. Barks is the author of numerous translations of Rumi and has been a student of Sufism since 1977. His work with Rumi, a Persian mystical poet, was the subject of an hour-long segment on Bill Moyers's Language of Life series on PBS, and he is a featured poet and translator in Bill Moyers's poetry special, "Fooling with Words." Dr. Barks makes frequent international appearances and is well-known throughout the Middle East. His work has contributed to an extremely strong following of Rumi in the English-speaking world. Dr. Barks received his Ph.D. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an honorary doctorate from Tehran University in 2006, and in March 2009 was inducted to the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)