A most extraordinary literary phenomena, in fact one of the most extraordinary in history, began. It swept England, it made its way across to America it started a phenomenal craze, it is one of the most translated, illustrated, published, republished, edited, reedited books in the history of literature and it’s come about through the most extraordinary collaboration by these two different people separated by 700 years.

Ben Okri delves into the century-spanning collaboration that sparked the huge success of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The first four lines of this epic poem are dissected by Okri to show us the true magic of the words and how they swept the world, eventually being translated into over 70 languages and set to music by 100 composers. Okri will be speaking at Africa Writes this July and will undoubtedly bring a healthy dose of this magic to the festival. Book your tickets here: http://bit.ly/1aAKIe7