The Conference of the Bird

A while back at the Baking Tray Cafe, I ran into one of my friends, Mohammed S. and as we were talking and catching up, he asked me if I heard about The Conference of the Birds book for Farah K. Behbehani (منطق الطير لفرح بهبهاني).

According to Amazon, the book is written in the twelfth century by the Persian poet and mystic Farid ud-Din Attar, The Conference of the Birds tells how the birds of the world have gathered to search for a mythological king. Each of the birds represents a different human type – a coward, a lover – and much of the poem consists of stories told by their leader in answer to their objections to the journey or their questions about it. The journey taken by the birds is an allegory for the different stages on the Sufi path to enlightenment and the soul’s search for unity with the Divine. For this exquisite book, Farah K. Behbehani relates the tales of the ten birds and their leader, illustrating the Arabic name of each bird in Jali Diwani calligraphy. A line from the Arabic version of the poem that captures each bird’s essence is also illustrated and explained. 84 color illustrations

Farah K. Behbehani was educated at Boston University and Central St. Martins College of Art and Design in London. She has studied with the renowned calligrapher Khaled al-Saai and recently won an award at the Sharjah Biennial of Calligraphy. She lives in England.

The book is available in The Baking Tray Cafe mini book shelve, and you can browse through it like I did while enjoying your drink/meal 😉

I also found this video on YouTube (link)

Interesting book, great efforts, nicely presented 😉 WTG Farah, we are proud of you 😀