Two, very different contemporary characters discover romance in a dramatic reading of best-selling novel The Forty Rules of Love by acclaimed Moroccan theater, voice, film, and TV performer and translator Hassan El Jai (recently performed at Form Mason in SF). Elif Shafak’s novel follows the lives of a Jewish-American housewife and a Sufi Muslim based in Amsterdam and the unlikely love they develop for each other. El Jai’s adaptation transforms the tale into a mystical journey and an artistic experience anchored by personal revelations.
About the Book:
Elif Shafak, the most widely read female writer in Turkey, has earned a growing fan base all over the world with her bestselling The Bastard of Istanbul. In The Forty Rules of Love, her lyrical, imaginative new novel about the famous Sufi mystic Rumi, Shafak effortlessly blends East and West, past and present, to create a dramatic, compelling, and exuberant tale about how love works in the world. Shafak unfolds two parallel narratives-one set in the thirteenth century, when Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the wandering dervish known as Shams of Tabriz, and one contemporary, as an unhappy American housewife, inspired by Rumi's message of love, finds the courage to transform her life.
When: February 4th, 7:00 pm
Where: Zaytuna College Main Hall, 2401 Le Conte Ave, Berkeley, CA 94709
This event is sponsored by Zaytuna College and co-sponsored by the Center for Islamic Studies.