Abhay Kumar

Abhay Kumar [Pen Name Abhay K.] is an Indian poet-diplomat, editor, translator, anthologist and artist. and currently serves as the deputy director general of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), New Delhi. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 2003 after doing master's in geography at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Kirorimal College, Delhi University. He served as India's 21st ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros from 2019-2022 and as India's Deputy Ambassador to Brazil from 2016-2019. He earlier served as Spokesperson and First Secretary at the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal from 2012-2016 and as Acting Consul General of India in St. Petersburg, and Third/Second Secretary at Indian Embassy, Moscow, Russia from 2005 to 2010. He served as Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy at the Ministry of External Affairs from 2010-2012 and sent out the first tweet on its behalf in 2010 starting a new era of India's Digital Diplomacy.

His published collections of poetry include ''Celestial'',''Stray Poems'',''Monsoon'', ''The Magic of Madagascar'', ''The Alphabets of Latin America'', ''The Prophecy of Brasilia'', ''The Eight-Eyed Lord of Kathmandu'', ''The Seduction of Delhi'' among others, while his edited books are ''CAPITALS'', ''100 Great Indian Poems'', ''100 More Great Indian Poems'', ''New Brazilian Poems'', ''The Bloomsbury Anthology of Great Indian Poems'', ''The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems'', ''The Book of Bihari Literature'' among others. His ''Earth Anthem'' has been translated into over 150 languages and was played at the United Nations to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Earth Day. He also wrote an anthem for SAARC spurring search for an official SAARC Anthem. He wrote a 'Moon Anthem' to celebrate the success of India's Moon Mission Chandrayaan-2. and Chandrayaan-3. He also penned a Sun Anthem to mark the launch of ISRO's Aditya-L1 He has penned anthems on all the planets in the Solar System. His translation of the first Magahi novel ''Fool Bahadur'' will be published by Penguin Random House in 2024.

He received the SAARC Literary Award for his contribution to contemporary South Asian poetry and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2013. He has also been honoured with Asia-Pacific Excellence Award in 2014. His ''The Seduction of Delhi'' was shortlisted for Muse India-Satish Verma Young Writer Award 2015. He has been called a 'World Poet' by Pulitzer Prize winning poet Vijay Seshadri His translation of Kalidasa's Meghaduta and Ritusamhara received Kalinga Literary Festival 2020-2021 Poetry Book of the Year Award. while The Book of Bihari Literature edited by him received KLF Book Award 2022. He recorded his poems at the Library of Congress. His poem 'The Partitioned Land' was taught at the Cornell University in the Fall 2021. His book-length poem 'Monsoon' has been chosen by Harvard University's assistant professor Sarah Dimick to study for a book project on Climate and Literature along with the two books of Amitava Ghosh. He was elected as a foreign corresponding member of Brazilian Academy of Letters in 2023. Provided by Wikipedia