Listen to a recording of Professor Juan Cole discussing what inspired him to undertake a new translation of the Rubaiyat and his central argument regarding the authorship of the poems. Also available on Apple Podcast & Spotify!

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On Saturday, June 20, 2020, NIAC Chicago hosted its first debut event with Juan Cole (Professor of History, University of Michigan) for a book talk on his new translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (IB Tauris, 2020). Professor Cole discussed what inspired him to undertake a new translation of the Rubaiyat and his central argument regarding the authorship of the poems. The “fireside” chat portion of the book talk explored how the themes in the poetry relate to current events—including plague, war, economic depression, and civil unrest. The Q&A portion of the event opened a discussion about references to poetry attributed to Khayyam in Western popular culture as well as Professor Cole’s next steps with his translation. Our book talk closed out with a brief presentation from NIAC Chicago Member Dr. Ali Fatemi on why he supports NIAC and why you should get involved too.