SIR - Sunday, September 30, 2007, is the 800th anniversary of the birth of MowlanaJalaluddin Rumi, the wonderful Sufi poet, and on Saturday May 26, there was a remarkable celebratory gathering at Bradford Central Library as part of Unesco's "Year of Rumi".
What made it remarkable was that it was genuinely multi-cultural.
There was a sizeable minority of white faces in the audience, and poems were read in English as well as Urdu and Farsi.
It was something of a culture shock for the English poets, not only because the audience expresses its appreciation vocally throughout a reading (an "interruption" rather like the way Spaniards will cry "Ole" to encourage a Flamenco singer) but when they were struck by a particularly felicitous turn of phrase, they called out to hear it again.
Later this year, I hope to organise something on a larger scale, around the time of Rumi's birthday, but since that falls in Ramadan, perhaps during the following Eid, or on the anniversary of his death, December 17, at which works could be performed, in English, Farsi, and any other languages (such as Urdu, Arabic etc).
Anyone interested in pursuing these ideas, please contact me at rumi2007@f2s.com, telephone (01274) 823949.
Karl Dallas, Church Green, Bradford 8
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