Dick Davis on Persian Literature

Dick Davis was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1945, and educated at the universities of Cambridge (B.A. and M.A. in English Literature) and Manchester (PhD. in Medieval Persian Literature). He lived in Iran for 8 years (1970-1978), and also for some time in both Italy and Greece. He is currently Professor of Persian and Chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at Ohio State University.  As author, translator or editor, he has produced over 20 books; as well as academic works these include translations from Italian (prose) and Persian (prose and verse), and eight books of his own poetry (the most recent of which is A Trick of Sunlight, 2006). His translations from Persian include Attar’s The Conference of the Birds, a book of medieval epigrams (Borrowed Ware), Pezeshkzad’s My Uncle Napoleon, and Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. He has recently completed a verse translation of the 11th century poet Gorgani’s Vis and Ramin, one of the most beautiful of Persian love stories.