Longlisted for the PEN Translation AwardBest Spiritual Books of 2025 - Spirituality and PracticeThe first comprehensive English collection from one of the world’s most influential mystics—Attar—the twelfth-century poet Rumi called his master.Twelfth-century Persian poet Attar (1145–1221) was revered by Rumi and though his work is beloved around the world, he is mostly unknown to English readers. Translated ...

“These lofty words are an antidotefor anyone sickened by extremism's poison.”Considered by Rumi to be “the master” of Sufi mystic poetry, Attar is best known for this epic poem, a magnificent allegorical tale about the soul’s search for meaning. He recounts the perilous journey of the world’s birds to the faraway peaks of Mount Qaf in search of the mysterious Simorgh, their king. Attar’s beguiling anecdotes and humor intermingle the sublime with the mundane,...

Composed in the twelfth century in north-eastern Iran, Attar's great mystical poem is among the most significant of all works of Persian literature. A marvellous, allegorical rendering of the Islamic doctrine of Sufism - an esoteric system concerned with the search for truth through God - it describes the consequences of the conference of the birds of the world when they meet to begin the search for their ideal king, the Simorgh bird. On hearing that to find him they must undertake an ardu...

As a third generation logger, a life in the bush is all Joe Adler has ever known. He works, he hunts; he provides. But when a man dies on his watch, and his wife abandons their young family for writing school in Toronto, Joe must face the consequences of his hard-living ways.Left alone to care for his seven year old daughter, he enlists the help of Jenny Lacroix, the wife of the man whose death he might be responsible for. Resentful and angry, and his conscience over Jenny’s husban...

An indispensable guide to parents of hockey hopefulsAt a time of great change in hockey, Justin Davis exposes the dark underbelly of the journey from the minors to the big leaguesHockey culture: it’s a commonly used phrase inside the game, glorifying sacrifice, toughness, loyalty, and a sense of identity. Justin Davis viewed this culture as something he was lucky enough to experience. After all, he’d won a Memorial Cup after leading the tou...

For fans of Becka Mack and Lauren Asher comes a heart-stopping and utterly romantic story about two people from opposite worlds who dare to risk the odds to be together.She did everything right—until her life fell apart.The last place Priya Solanki wants to be is back at the funeral home her parents have run for decades—a place tied to a caste legacy the world says is long gone, but that her family carried from India to Canada and n...

Farid ud-Din Attar was a Persian poet, druggist, and social theorist of Sufism, who wrote much of his poetry while treating hundreds of patients a day with his herbal remedies. As a young man he made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and sought wisdom during his travels in Egypt, Damascus, and India. His masterpiece, “The Conference of the Birds”, has survived centuries because of its captivating poetic style and its symbolic exploration on the true nature of God. This 4500-line poem follows the bird...

First written in the 12th century, Conference of the Birds is an allegory of extreme measures for extreme times -- the story of birds seeking a king is the story of all of us seeking God. Like the birds, we may be excited for the journey, until we realize that we must give up our fears and hollow desires, that our journey will be long and hard. Like the duck, we may not wish to leave the water. Like the nightingale, we may want to stay close to our roses.Direct and to the ...

Farid ud-Din Attar (1145/46 1221) was a Persian poet, druggist, and social theorist of Sufism, who wrote much of his poetry while treating hundreds of patients a day with his herbal remedies. As a young man he made a pilgrimage to Mecca, and sought wisdom during his travels in Egypt, Damascus and India. His masterpiece, "The Conference of the Birds", has survived centuries because of its captivating poetic style and its symbolic exploration on the true nature of God. This 4500-line poem fo...

The Vital Roots of European Enlightenment is a collection of essays which deal with the influence of Ibn Tufayl, a 12th-century Arab philosopher from Spain, on major European thinkers. His philosophical novel, Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, could be considered one of the most important books that heralded the Scientific Revolution. Its thoughts are found in different variations and to different degrees in the books of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Isaac Newton, and Kant. But if Ibn Tufayl...

It is easy to find books and libraries within fiction from the earliest times onwards in works for all age groups, in canonical literature and in books that form part of popular culture. From Don Quixote to Louisa M. Alcott’s March girls and Terry Pratchett’s Unseen University wizards, the reading material of fictional personae is part of their characterisation; we are often reading readers. This volume breaks new ground in offering a chronological range of essays exploring the de...

2019 Writer's Digest First Place Award WinnerA Greek family. An Indian family. A summer wedding on the Aegean coast…Meet Moti Ferreira—spectacularly jinxed from the day she's born.Saddled with an eccentric mother, she stumbles upon the one man who holds the key to her freedom—the best man at her cousin's upcoming wedding.All Moti has to do is overcome her fear of water, board a yacht to the Greek Isles, seduce the dreamy Nik...