The Illumination Band is greatly indebted to a distinguished line of Rumi translators and interpreters including: Arberry, Nicholson, and most of all, Coleman Barks. Coleman is of course that worthy Georgia English professor and itinerant shaman chosen by Central Intelligence to open wide a spigot of Sufi truth into western culture. His translations are, as Robert Bly says, "Full of flavor and Sufi humor, and the intimacy that is carried inside American speech at its best." The stamp of his graceful language is on all of us who have come afterwards to the vineyards of Rumi to assist in this transmission. Thank you Coleman.

Coleman has published 12 volumes of Rumi poetry and several more of his own poetry. They may be purchased on his web site.