Farid al-Din Attar of Nishapur (c. 1145 – c. 1221) was a major Persian poet, theoretician of Sufism, and hagiographer. His profound works have had an immense and lasting influence on Persian poetry and Islamic mysticism. He is best known for authoring the epic allegorical poem 'The Conference of the Birds' (Mantiq al-Tayr) and the prose biographical collection 'Memorial of the Saints' (Tazkirat al-Awliya).