We have a special treat amid the Turkey series--book club is back! To follow up on Episode 7, host Steven Kapp Perry and senior producer Heather Bigley meet with Kevin Blankinship and Rasoul Sorkhabi to discuss the poetry of Rumi. The group discusses the geographical and cultural impacts on Rumi in 13th century Anatolia as well his esteemed writing style and influence.

Rasoul Sorkhabi holds a PHD in geology from Kyoto University in Japan, as well as M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees from Jammu University in India. He has conducted geological studies in India, Nepal, Japan, Borneo, the Rockies and the Great Basin of the American West. He has also constructed a global database on sedimentary basins. He is currently a professor at the University of Utah. He reviewed Swallowing the Sun for the journal Interreligious Insight

Kevin Blankinship is an assistant professor at BYU in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages, teaching Arabic language and literature, Islamic civilization, and the Koran. He holds a Phd from the University of Chicago, an MA from UNC Chapel Hill, and a BA from BYU. Under the aegis of the Fulbright program, he lived and conducted researched in Morocco for a year.