Daniel is an award-winning drummer, Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar at the University of Alberta, and Ethnomusicologist. His PhD dissertation Hidden Words and Sounds An Ethnography of the Music Program at the Bahai Institute for Higher Education in Iran is on the exploration of musical representations of the persecution of the Baha'i Community in Iran. We play musical pieces in the interview that present Daniel's performance capabilities as well as musical pieces related to his musical studies on the Baha'i persecution in Iran.

Faye is a theater and visual artist who produces original touring puppet shows for adult and family audiences. Her most recent effort is a series of puppet productions called Cozy Corner, which features a puppet by the name of Rory, that faces new life challenges in each episode. We talk about Faye's background in puppetry and Cosy Corner in particular.

You can find Faye's work here.

Jim is an author, phtotographer and filmmaker whose latest film release is called Death By Joy: An Escorted Journey, a documentary of one woman's choice to find joy in dying and her unforgettable discoveries along the way. We discuss the film and its societal implications, and we share an audio clip from the film. Jim also produced the film The Promise of All Ages: Life of Baha'u'llah. You can find links to all of Jim's work on his website.

Hamed was born and raised in Zambia, and has lived there for most of his life, with the exception of a brief period in Montreal when he went to university. Hamed still lives in Zambia with his wife and and three children. Hamed has published his first novel, "With Oars and Compass: A Purposeful Journey into Life, Love and Happiness". The story centers around the protagonist, Jane, a young and multicultural woman, living in a big city, who is determined to conquer the world. Recent events left her disenchanted and uncertain about the direction her life is taken, and disillusioned by what she sees around her. We discuss further the story of Jane and the process Hamed went through to create the novel.

I interviewed Lisa previously six years ago in which we talked about her novel Abbey Wize - Away. She has since re-released the novel. She talks about the work she had done on the novel since its orginal release and she reads an excerpt from Abbey Wize - Away. You can learn more about Abby Wize by going to the website https://wize.media/ or the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/AbbyWizeMedia/.

Bob is a pianist and singer who has performed for diplomats, ambassadors and diversified audiences in many countries including Africa, Russia, Europe, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau as well as the United States. Bob has earned his place as an internationally acclaimed performer, winning the hearts of his fans in concert halls, night clubs and music colleges - performing jazz, cabaret, Broadway show tunes and love songs that bring memories, tears, laughter and romance to his listeners. We feature songs of these genres in the interview. You can see his discography here. Bob and his wife Jene have produced a CD of prayers.

Carol is a published author and poet. She also served as writer and editor for the Baha'i International News Service from 1989-1990. Carol published the children's book, Dragons of Risvania in the 1980's which I remember reading to my children 30 years ago. She has recently published an historical novel called Journey of Sorrow, Journey of Hope. She has recently recently released a collection of poetically-written narratives inspired by Biblical Scripture called From the Land of the Living that examine five seminal moments in the life of Christ and the effect the events produced on both those who saw Him for who He was, as well as on those who only saw a human event. This work has been popular for reading aloud at Lenten program events.

This is a second interview for Phyllis for A Baha'i Perspecitve. In the 2014 interview we featured the numerous books that she authored in her life. This interview we are featuring her music. She has produced two CDs: Don't Be A Bully! Be a Buddy!, which is a children's CD that accompanies a children's book with the same title authored by Flora Cousins. The 2nd CD we feature is called Love Songs to the Prophet dedicated to Baha'u'llah, prophet-founder of the Baha'i Faith. This CD features her a cappella singing of adapted African-American spirituals or her own compositions. We feature songs from both CDs in the interview. I started the interview by asking Phyllis what inspired her to produce her CD Love Songs to the Prophet.  You can see all of Phyllis's work at Skylark Publishing.
 

Tom is an award-winning playwright and author. Raised Irish-Catholic in Brooklyn, Tom has written some 30 plays in both English and Spanish. In the interview, Tom tells his spiritual journey in which he dropped everything in his life and began traveling around the world searching for spiritual truth. It's an amazing journey that led him to the Baha'i Faith.

Tom's latest publish book is called "Persian Passion: Of Gods and Gargoyles". It's a history of the early years of the Baha'i Faith when the personnage of the Bab in 1844 declared that he is the return of the promised Mahdi in the Shia Islam tradition. The Bab's life, ministry and martydom mirrors that of Christ in a remarkable way. We discuss Tom's book and the historical figures of both the Bab and Tahireh in the interview.  

Visit Tom's website at yourcreativestage.com

Rosamond is an accomplished keyboard artist, composer, and teacher. She studied organ and harpsichord in Europe and earned a PhD in music history from Brandeis University. She taught piano to students of all ages for 35 years and worked as an organist and choir director. Still going strong at age 88, she has recently record her 5th CD of original piano compositions, inspired by the writings of the Baha'i Faith. In the interview, we feature compositions from her 5th CD, "Divine Revelation: Loving and Uplifting Steps to Unity and Bliss". For each piano composition, Rosamond describes her interpretion of specific writings of the Baha'i Faith to the piano composition that we play on the interview. The manner in which describes the relationship between the specific writing and the piano composition is quite remarkable. The Baha'i texts that she refers to are printed on the CD cover. You can find her music on 9 Star Media.

Yosi is a singer song-writer who got her start writing songs and busking at age 12 on the streets of Corvallis, OR. We feature songs she has written for a program called My Last Days, and for Facebook, as well as songs from her CD Cellar and Sky, and from her live album Troubadourial Walkabout Live From The Road. We also feature her singing the Baha'i Prayer for the Departed.

Ali is a musician that composes songs inspired by the teachings of the Baha'i Faith. Ali often creates videos for his compositions. Four examples that we play on the interview are: Rise, Unite, Forgiveness, and Love is Shining. Ali describes himself as “a Baha'i inspired musician whose melodies spring from the belief in the oneness of humanity, and that music plays a crucial role in helping us feel more connected to each other and our purpose.” You can find his music here.

Ramine is a singer songwriter who puts the Baha'i scriptures to music. You can find his music on Band Camp and on his Facebook page, Ramine Yahzari Music. We feature seven songs in the interview.

Lisa is an award-winning children's book writer and illustrator whose books include The Good in Me From A to Z by Dottie and Blessed Is the Spot, which has an animation companion on YouTube. She and her husband, Aaron Kreader, run a family-friendly media and games publishing company called Studio 9 Inc. Lisa is also a regular freelance writer, artist, and concept developer for Brilliant Star — an award-winning international children's magazine inspired by the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith. Her experience in education inside and outside of the public school system informs and influences the materials she creates for children. Her latest work is Sweet Neighbors Come In All Colors, a sing along book for kids ages 2 - 5, with friendly fruit from the Farmers' Market who come in diverse colors, shapes, and sizes. Young children enjoy exploring what makes these neighbors different, the same, and lovable. This hardcover picture book introduces the concepts of unity and diversity through adorable characters and simple, rhyming lyrics. We talk about her work and play songs that go with her work in the interview.

Jack is a writer and a child survivor of the holocaust. His first book was entitled "Through the Eyes of the Child: Survival of the Holocaust". He just released a new edition of the book and renamed it to "The Holocaust As Seen Through the Innocense of a Child" . We talk about the book and he reads a moving excerpt from it. In total, Jack has published five books. His other four books we talk about in the interview.

Susan is a musician, poet and author. Her recent work is a biography entitled Robert Sengstacke Abbott: A Man, a Paper, and a Parade. Every year in Chicago there is a Bud Biliken Parade {http://www.budbillikenparade.org/} for children. One of the purposes of this book was to let young adults know how this parade came into being as a result of Robert Sengstacke Abbott. Robert Sengstacke Abbott was an African-American lawyer, who, in 1905 founded of the newspaper The Chicago Defender {http://chicagodefender.com/}. Susan explains how she was inspired to write this biography and reads an excerpt from the book. Susan also shares some poetry in the interview. You can visit her website iambicnana.com {https://iambicnana.com/} to read some of her poetry. I play her musical compositions after the interview from her CDs. Here are the links to her CDs: Come and Sing, Arm in Arm, Loving Hands, Special Times.

Bob is an internationally-recognized expert on life story interviewing and personal myth-making. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and previously taught at the University of Southern Maine, where he was the first diversity scholar in the School of Education and Human Development, and was a co-founding faculty member of the Russell Scholars Program and the religious studies minor. He is director of Story Commons, a research, educational, and service unit for people who want to create their life story. He is the author of nine books. Bob has just released his 50th anniversary edition of , "A Year of Living Deeply: A Memoir of 1969", which is a memoir of the events in his life in 1969 that were life changing. You can visit Bob's website, to get an understanding of the universal patterns he is exemplifying in his memoir.

Steve is a singer songwriter and composes songs with Baha'i themes. His most recent collection of songs is called Jump Start to Eternity. We feature a number of his compositions in the interview from the album and he gives us some insights on the inspiration for composing a song and what to look for when listening to a song.

Eileen is the author of 1844: Convergence in Prophecy for Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baha'i Faith. It is an interesting work that describes the millennial movement, and in particular the Millerite movement, in the 19th century; in which Christians had calculated the return of Christ around 1843 and 1844. When Christ did not return as they expected, the movement splintered and dissipated. Unbeknownst to these millenialists, a new messenger of God did appear at that time, but not in the Western Hemisphere, but in the Middle East. We talk about this fascinating phenomenon in the interview.

Brian is the director of School of the Nations and Nations University in Guyana. He recently published a book entitled Educational Leadership: A Guyanese Perspective, which is a reflection on 40 years of effort in Guyana on a wide variety of development projects focused on education and health. He wrote the book in hopes that local people will be empowered to take an active leadership in these endeavors. Brian talks about the book and reads an excerpt in the interview. We also talk about a traumatic personal event of Brian's that occurred a few week prior to the interview and the learning he has found from the experience.

Jaellayna is the author of "Personal Path, Practical Feet", which is a collection of essays that capture the Jaellayna's spiritual jorney via everyday experiences. She reads a number of essays in the interview. Her websites are: http://peacebypiece-publishing.com/ and http://www.jaellayna.org/

JoAnn is a freelance writer and educational consultant who has been actively engaged in interfaith dialogue and religious education for over twenty-five years. She is the author of "Light of the Kingdom -- Biblical Topics in the Bahá'í Writings" and short works including the "Bahá'í Bible Study" series, “The Ten Plagues of Exodus in Light of the Bahá'í Writings” and “Parallels in the Ministries of Táhirih and Paul.” We discuss her book and her other writings in the interview. She is also active as an artist in residence with the South Carolina Arts Commission specializing in mythology and folktales of the ancient Near East, and serves as faculty for the Wilmette Institute, an Online Baha'i Learning Center. You can find her website at joannborovicka.com.

I had interviewed Hussein in 2015 for his book Awakening: A History of the Bábi and Bahá'í Faiths in Nayriz. He has now produced a new work entitled "Foreigner, From an Iranian Village to New York City". It is an autobiography that tells his story as an Iranian Baha'i immigrant coming to the United States. The book is a series of vignettes set against the backdrop of a changing Iran, the plight of Baha'is there, and the tumult and of the 60's and 70's in the U.S. Hussein reads excerpts from his book.

Patricia is a writer and editor who lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta. We discuss two books that she wrote. One is called Equals and Partners which records her decade-long friendship with the Stoney Nakoda Nation in Southern Alberta. The second she co-authored with Evelyn Loft Watts called Return to Tyendinaga: The Story of Jim and Melba Loft, which tells the story of the Lofts leaving the comfort of their middle-class life to live on the Tyendinaga Reserve in Ontario. We discuss these works and Patricia reads excerpts from both books in the interview.