In his monumental new book, The Dream of a Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain 950-1492, internationally acclaimed poet and translator Peter Cole provides a window into one of the great periods in world literature. This collection of 400 poems shows how Jewish poets mixed their own traditions with those of their Arabic-speaking neighbors to create something entirely new: a body of literature that is spiritual and sensual, contemplative and worldly, humorous and tragic.

Peter Cole is the author of two collections of poetry, Rift and Hymns & Qualms. Winner of the PEN-America Translation Award, he has translated poems from both Hebrew and Arabic, including the work of Solomon Ibn Gabirol, Taha Muhammad Ali, and Aharon Shabtai. He lives in Jerusalem, where he coedits Ibis Editions.

Recorded Tuesday, November 13, 2007 at School of the Art Institute of Chicago.