Free Public Book Reading with Pir Zia in conversation with Kythe Heller
Aligning with the Illuminated, Cambridge MA
May 29, 2026, 7:00 – 9:00 pm ET
We invite you to share an evening with us to celebrate the new book, Tears from the Mother of the Sun, written by Pir Zia Inayat Khan, featuring striking artwork by Amruta Patil. In this globe-spanning chronicle, Pir Zia sets forth an astonishing sequence of legends revealing little-known connections between ancient cultures and spiritual lineages, resulting in an unexpected marriage of myth and history.
Following a reading, Kythe Heller will open a conversation on the book, exploring sacred poetics as a mode of transmission across cultures, and the ways spiritual traditions disclose a shared, living continuum of meaning through poetry. The evening will conclude with a short meditation, welcoming guidance from the illuminated souls called upon in the book. All are welcome.
The following day, Saturday, May 30th, everyone is invited to join us from 10:00am to 5:00pm for a day of teachings with Pir Zia. To learn more and register, click here.
Books: Tears from the Mother of the Sun
Guests can bring their book to be signed or reserve a signed copy when they register, to pick up upon arrival. A limited number of copies will be available at the event, as supplies last.Â
–> To purchase a book online: https://pirzia.org/tears-from-the-mother-of-the-sun/
Accessibility
For elevator access to the Mikelson Room on the 2nd floor, enter through 3 Church Street.
Transportation & Parking:Â
First Parish is easily accessed via public transportation. For those driving in, please visit the church website for directions and parking lots in the area. www.firstparishcambridge.org/directions
To see other stops on the Book & Teachings Tour in New York, Washington DC, Boston MA and Berkeley CA, click here.
Speakers
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Pir Zia Inayat KhanPir Zia Inayat Khan, PhD, is a scholar of religion and teacher of Sufism in the universalist Sufi lineage of his grandfather, Hazrat Inayat Khan. Pir Zia is president of the Inayatiyya and founder of Sulūk Academy, a school of Sufi contemplative study and practice.
He is author of Tears from the Mother of the Sun with visual artist Amruta Patil, Immortality: A Traveler’s Guide; Mingled Waters: Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions; and Saracen Chivalry: Counsels on Valor, Generosity and the Mystical Quest. Pir Zia divides his time between Richmond, Virginia and Suresnes, France. -
Kythe HellerKythe Heller is a poet, scholar, and interdisciplinary artist whose work explores the transmission of knowledge across spiritual traditions and the arts, with a particular grounding in Sufi thought and practice. She holds a ThD / PhD from Harvard University in the Study of Religion, with a focus on comparative mysticism, philosophy and theology, and the arts, alongside training in poetry and contemplative practice. Her research and creative work engage the metaphysics of sound, the phenomenology of perception, and the ways artistic practice can become a mode of knowing and cultural transformation. Her books include Firebird and The Soul Conveys Itself in Shadow / El alma se mueve en la sombra, alongside collaborative works that bring poetry into relation with image, sound, film, and ritual. She is the founder and creative director of Vision Lab, an interdisciplinary laboratory founded at Harvard Divinity School that convenes artists, scholars, and spiritual practitioners in sustained dialogue, integrating artistic practice, contemplative inquiry, and critical research to cultivate attentive, relational, and ethically responsive forms of knowing and making.