I’m happy to share with you my new publication in the International Journal of Persian Literature — which is about how Persia, Sufism, and the Silk Road are depicted in the Turkmen poetry of Magtymguly Pyragy (and his poetry’s impact on Soviet and post-Soviet literature in Central Asia). I had the unique honor of living (twice!) in Turkmenistan — and both times were a dream come true. I first presented this research at a groundbreaking conference on the Caspian at Yale University. I am grateful for this opportunity to bring Turkmenistan’s finest poet to the attention of western scholars, as his poetry has been neglected for too long in western academic circles.
