You Yourself Are the Beloved: Writing with South Asian Sufis [Shankar Narayan]

All Levels | Sufi poetry and music make a magical space in which lover and beloved engage in an eternal dance, yearning towards union with the divine. While Rumi is likely the best known Sufi poet in the West, South Asian Sufis such as Amir Khusrau, Baba Bullhe Shah, Ghulam Farid, and many others are equally deserving of acclaim in their own right, creating ecstatic poetry that has stood the test of time. In this part-analytical, part-generative intensive, we’ll engage the inspiring work of these multi-talented poets though reading, watching, and listening, including qawwali musical performances that are an integral part of this living tradition. And we’ll use the sparks of these voices, passed down over nearly a thousand years, to generate our own inspired writing. All levels and genres—come ready to write!