Dr. Leili Anvar is Professor in Persian Language and Literature at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), Paris, where she is also the Head of the Iranian Languages Department. She holds a chronicle dedicated to literature and spirituality in the magazine Le monde des religions and co-hosts a weekly radio program on spiritual issues (France Culture). Dr. Anvar attended the Ecole Normale Supérieure, and studied Persian and English literature and civilization at the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris), where she received her Ph.D. in Persian Literature with a thesis entitled 'From Paradox to Unity: A Study of the Divan-e Shams' (1998).

Dr. Anvar’s publications include 'Le genre hagiographique a travers le Tadhkirat al-awliya de Farid al-Din Attar' in Saints Orientaux (1995); Noms de personnes en Islam, translation from English into French of A. Schimmel's Islamic Names (1996); 'Attar', 'Rumi', 'Vin' in Le dictionnaire Critique de l'Esotérisme (1998); 'L'amour de Majnun pour Leyli: folie ou sagesse?' in Les fous d'amour dans les littératures mediévales orientale et occidentale (2005); Orient, Mille ans de Poésie et de Peinture (2004); Rûmi (2004), ‘Without us from us we’re safe: self and selflessness in the Dîwân of ‘Attâr’, ‘Attâr and the Persian Sufi Tradition: The Art of Spiritual Flight (2007) and Malek Jân Ne'mati (2007); Trésors dévoilés: une Anthologie de l’Islam Sipirituel (with Makram Abbès), 2009.