HAFIZ: THE SUN OF SHIRAZ Essays, Talks, Projects on the Immortal Poet Paul Smith CONTENTS: Introduction by Richard Lee; The Life of Hafiz; Hafiz's Influence on the East & the West, The English Translations of Hafiz; Hafiz and His Translator, Sufism and God; Poetry, Life and Times of Hafiz of Shiraz; UNESCO and Hafiz; Hafiz for Our Time; Preface to Original Divan. 249 pages COMMENTS ON PAUL SMITH'S TRANSLATION OF HAFIZ'S 'DIVAN'. 'It is not a joke. The two books... the English version of ALL the ghazals of Hafiz is a great feat and of paramount importance. I am astonished.' Dr. Mir Mohammad Taghavi (Dr. of Literature) Tehran. 'It is a brilliant feat... the two books, the Introduction and the Divan. I am much thankful and grateful.' Dr. Zein ab Abedin Mo'tamin (D. Lit.) Tehran. 'I have never seen such a good translation.' Mr B. Khorramshai, Academy of Philosophy, Tehran. 'I would like to help to introduce your book which I loved to all Iranians and maybe to the Middle East.' Mr. Ali Tarrassoli. Shiraz University. 'I was very impressed with the beauty of these books.' Dr. R.K. Barz. Asian Studies, Australian National University. 'If there is anything Paul Smith does not know about Hafiz, the 14th Century Persian poet, it probably is not worth knowing... remarkably accurate... a remarkable feat... an inexhaustible well of inspired images...' The Age Newspaper. "Superb translations. 99% Hafiz 1% Paul Smith." Ali Akbar Shapurzman, translator of works in English into Persian and knower of Hafiz's Divan off by heart. Paul Smith is a poet, author and translator of over 80 books of Sufi poets of the Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Pashtu and other languages of Hafiz, Sadi, Nizami, Rumi, Obeyd Zakani, 'Attar, Sana'i, Jahan Khatun, Nesimi, Kabir, Anvari, Ansari, Jami, Khayyam, Rudaki, Nesimi, Yunus Emre and many others, as well as poetry, fiction, plays, biographies, children's books and screenplays.