Daniel James Ladinsky

Daniel Ladinsky is an acclaimed poet and interpreter of mystical poetry. For six years, he made his home in a spiritual community in western India, where he worked and lived with the intimate disciples and family of Avatar Meher Baba, and was a student of the essence and unity of all faiths. A teacher there ingrained the wonder of Hafiz into his soul when he said, "With great wit and tenderness the words of Hafiz speak for God."

Ladinsky has written seven books of poetry published by Penguin Books including: The Gift, Poems Inspired by Hafiz, the Great Sufi Master; Love Poems from God, Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West; The Subject Tonight is Love, 60 Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz; I Heard God Laughing, Poems of Hope and Joy; A Year With Hafiz, Daily Contemplations; The Purity of Desire, 100 Poems of Rumi; and Darling, I Love You, Poems from the Hearts of Our Glorious Mutts.

Ladinsky says: “My books reimagine for a new age the work of earlier poets and writers. My poems are not translations in a literal or scholarly sense. Rather than capture the form of a particular classical work, my aim is to craft poems that release the spirit of their authors.”

They continue to rank as bestsellers globally, touching the hearts and minds of people world-wide more than twenty years later. Nationally acclaimed author, Elizabeth Gilbert, chose The Gift as one of her ten favorite books and ranked it amongst the top five books that has made a lasting impression on her. And, in 2020, Oprah Winfrey listed Love Poems from God among her six favorite books to gift during the holiday season.

Ladinsky currently resides in Taos, New Mexico where he enjoys the rugged beauty of the landscape from the front porch of his ranch. He's still writing— largely haiku— and in his free time, enjoys caring for the stray animals who make their way to him.