Coleman Barks is an American poet, and former literature faculty at the University of Georgia. He was educated at the Univ. of North Carolina (BA 1959; PhD 1968) and at the Univ. of California, Berkeley (MA 1961), Coleman Barks has since 1977 collaborated with various scholars of the Persian language (most notably, John Moyne) to bring over into American free verse the poetry of the 13th Century mystic, Jelaluddin Rumi. This work has resulted in twenty-one volumes, including the bestselling Essential Rumi in 1995, two appearances on Bill Moyers’ PBS specials, and inclusion in the prestigious Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. The Rumi translations have sold over a million copies. It is claimed that over the last fifteen years Rumi has been the most-read poet in the United States. In October 2010 HarperOne published RUMI: THE BIG RED BOOK, which collects all of the work on Rumi's ghazals and rubai that he has done over the past thirty-four years.

Dr. Barks taught American Literature and Creative Writing at various universities for thirty-four years, and has published seven volumes of his own poetry. The Univ. of Georgia Press published WINTER SKY: Poems 1968-2008 in September of 2008. In 2004 he received the Juliet Hollister Award for his work in the interfaith area. In March 2005 the US State Dept. sent him to Afghanistan as the first visiting speaker there in twenty-five years. In May of 2006 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Tehran. In 2009 he was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. He is now retired Professor Emeritus at the Univ. of Georgia in Athens.