A warm congratulations to our alumna Emily O’Dell (MARS-REERS ’10), whose book, The Gift of Rumi: Experiencing the Wisdom of the Sufi Master, was recently published by St. Martin’s Essentials (July 2022). Here’s an excerpt from the Publishers Weekly review:

This sharp debut from O’Dell, a professor at Sichuan University–Pittsburgh Institute in China, examines the role of Islam in the writings of 13th-century poet Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi. Lamenting that Western appropriations of the poet “have often stripped his poems of their religious references and spiritual richness,” she explores how Islamic mysticism permeates Rumi’s writings and outlook.