Barks taught literature at the
University of Georgia for three decades. Due to his work, the ideas of
Sufism have crossed many cultural boundaries over the past few decades. Barks received an honorary doctorate from
University of Tehran in 2006. Barks also read his original poetry at the
Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. In March 2009, Barks was inducted into the
Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.
Rumi interpretations Barks published several volumes of his interpretations of Rumi's poetry since 1976, including
The Hand of Poetry, Five Mystic Poets of Persia in 1993,
The Essential Rumi in 1995,
The Book of Love in 2003 and
A Year with Rumi in 2006.
Controversies Barks has been criticized for removing references to Islam from the poetry of Rumi.
Original poetry Barks published several volumes of his own poetry, beginning with
The Juice in 1972 and including
Gourd Seed (1993);
Tentmaking (2001); and, also in 2001,
Club: Granddaughter Poems (), a collection of poems written with and about his granddaughter, Briny Barks. ==Death==