When Sun Meets Moon

“Kugle is an engaging storyteller and a talented translator of the Persian and Urdu poetry that sits at the center of the stories he is telling. . . . The key thread in Kugle’s work is that literature is connected to religious life and social thought in ways that are not obvious to modern, Western (or westernized) readers. The book’s great strength is to reconnect these threads in a manner that is engaging, erudite, and experiential.”—Reading Religion

“Lively, engaging, and lucid, When Sun Meets Moon is a jewel of a book that enables a rethinking of normative understandings of the relationship between gender, sexuality and spirituality. Combining a sharp set of analytical insights with a finely honed and fragrant presentation of Sufi aesthetics, this transformative book foregrounds the humanity of these historical poets and displays Scott Kugle’s sheer love of Urdu poetry and culture.” — Sa'diyya Shaikh, University of Cape Town

“In this book that puts the lives and works of two significant and hitherto overlooked Urdu poets into conversation with each other, Scott Kugle provides unique insight into the composite Islamicate cultures of the Deccan. By successfully integrating accounts of historical and cultural developments in that region into his narrative, he explores the wider religious and social milieu in which these poets wrote and lived. A must read for anyone interested in Urdu literary history and Dakkani culture.” — Ali Asani, Harvard University