Abhay Kumar en Name Abhay K.(born 1980) is an Indian

poet-diplomat Poet-diplomats are poets who have also served their countries as diplomats. The best known poet-diplomats are perhaps Geoffrey Chaucer and Thomas Wyatt; the category also includes recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature: Ivo Andrić, Gabrie ...

and currently serves as the Deputy Director General of Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), New Delhi. He served as India's 21st Ambassador to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...

and

Comoros The Comoros,, ' officially the Union of the Comoros,; ar, الاتحاد القمري ' is an independent country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. It ...

from 2019-2022 He has also served in different diplomatic capacities earlier in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. His published collections of poetry include ''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'' among others. His translation of Kalidasa's Meghaduta and Ritusamhara has received Kalinga Literary Festival 2020-2021 Poetry Book of the Year Award. He recorded his poems at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

.K first Indian poet to record poems at Library of Congress
ANI, 30 August 2018 His poem 'The Partitioned Land' was taught at the

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

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. His writings cover poetry, art, memoir, global democracy and digital diplomacy.Public Diplomacy Division Receives Gov2.in 2011 Award
''

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by K. N. Guruswamy, a liquor businessman from Ballari and was launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Print ...

'', 12 March. His '' Earth Anthem'' has been translated into over 150 languages and was played at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 b ...

. He also wrote an anthem for

SAARC The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. Its member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan ...

spurring search for an official

SAARC Anthem The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. Its member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, ...

. He wrote a 'Moon Anthem' to celebrate the success of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

's Moon Mission

Chandrayaan-2 Chandrayaan-2 (, ; ) is the second lunar exploration mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), after Chandrayaan-1. It consists of a lunar orbiter, and also included the ''Vikram'' lander, and the ''Pragyan'' lunar ...

. He has penned a 'Mars Anthem' to inspire the younger generation to explore our neighbouring red planet. He has penned anthems on all the planets in the

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

. He received the

SAARC Literary Award SAARC Literary Award is an annual award conferred by the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature ( FOSWAL) since 2001 Shamshur Rahman, Mahasweta Devi, Jayanta Mahapatra, Abhi Subedi, Mark Tully, Sitakant Mahapatra, Uday Prakash, Suman Pokhrel ...

for his contribution to contemporary South Asian Poetry and was nominated for the

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

2013. He has also been honoured with Asia-Pacific Excellence Award in 2014. His ''The Seduction of Delhi'' was shortlisted for

Muse India ''Muse India'' is a literary e-journal based in Hyderabad, India. Since 2005, it has appeared bi-monthly in a web edition; it has no print version. In June 2017, Muse India was approved by the UGC as a literary e-journal. Its founder and manag ...

-Satish Verma Young Writer Award 2015.

Early life

Abhay was born and raised near Rajgir in

Nalanda district Nalanda district is one of the thirty-eight districts of the state of Bihar in India. Bihar Sharif is the administrative headquarters of this district. The districts contain the ancient Nalanda Mahavihara a UNESCO World Heritage site. Nalanda i ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

. He studied at

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

and

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties an ...

. He joined the

Indian Foreign Service The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is the diplomatic service and a central civil service of the Government of India under the Ministry of External Affairs. The Foreign Secretary is the head of the service. Vinay Mohan Kwatra is the 34th and the ...

in 2003. He studied Russian language, history and literature at the

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, U.S. foreign policy at

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...

and has a Certificate in Poetry Writing from the

International Writing Program The International Writing Program (IWP) is a writing residency for international artists in Iowa City, Iowa. Since 2014, the program offers online courses to many writers and poets around the world. Since its inception in 1967, the IWP has hosted o ...

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 co ...

. He speaks

Magahi The Magahi language (), also known as Magadhi (), is a language spoken in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal states of eastern India, and in the Terai of Nepal. Magadhi Prakrit was the ancestor of Magahi, from which the latter's name deriv ...

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

, English,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Nepali Nepali or Nepalese may refer to : Concerning Nepal * Anything of, from, or related to Nepal * Nepali people, citizens of Nepal * Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

and knows

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and Sanskrit. He has translated poems of 60 Brazilian poets from

and

Kālidāsa Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and ...

Meghadūta } ''Meghadūta'' ( sa, मेघदूत literally ''Cloud Messenger'') is a lyric poem written by Kālidāsa (c. 4th–5th century CE), considered to be one of the greatest Sanskrit poets. It describes how a '' yakṣa'' (or nature spirit), wh ...

and Ritusamhara from Sanskrit.

Career

Diplomat

Kumar is an

officer and has served in various positions at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of the

government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

and at the Indian missions and posts abroad in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

and Brasilia. At the MEA headquarters in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

he served as the Under Secretary

Digital diplomacy Digital diplomacy, also referred to as Digiplomacy and eDiplomacy (see below), has been defined as the use of the Internet and new information communication technologies to help achieve diplomatic objectives. However, other definitions have also ...

and sent the first tweet after setting up an official Twitter account of the Ministry of External Affairs of India in 2010. He served as the spokesperson of the Embassy of India, Kathmandu from 2012 to 2015. He was appointed Director of the

Nehru Centre, London The Nehru Centre, London is a cultural centre located at the South Audley Street, London. Its goal is to promote cultural exchange between India and the United Kingdom. The Nehru Centre was founded in 1992. Since its inception it has striven to ...

in March 2015. Subsequently, he was appointed as India's Deputy High Commissioner to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

in August 2015. He served as India's Ambassador to the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

islands of

and

from 2019-2022. He currently serves as the Deputy Director General of Indian Council of Cultural Relations. He started

Day celebrations on 9 Oct in 2011. He also proposed celebration of the

International Day of Diplomats International Day of Diplomats is celebrated on 24 October every year. The first International Day of Diplomats was celebrated in Brasília on 24 October 2017 with the participation of diplomats from Bangladesh, France, Ghana, India, Israel, Italy ...

on the

Day which was celebrated in Brasilia for the first time on 24 Oct 2017 with the participation of diplomats from several countries. The second International Day was celebrated in Brasilia while the third one was celebrated in Madagascar. The fourth International Day of Diplomats was celebrated globally. The Embassy of India,

Antananarivo Antananarivo ( French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "A ...

became the first Indian Embassy to go solar on 2nd Oct 2020 during his tenure as Ambassador of India to Madagascar and to have a Street Library.

Poet

Abhay Kumar's first book titled ''River Valley to Silicon Valley''(2007) was a memoir that also contained his first poem, 'Soul Song'.''The Hindu Literary Review'' 2007
''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the sec ...

'', 5 August 2007. He has published eight collections of poetry. The Eight-Eyed Lord of Kathmandu (2017) is a collection on the

UNESCO World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

sites, festivals, historical personalities, landscapes and prominent places of Nepal written during his stay in Nepal from 2012 to 2015.The poetics of public places:How poetry from a poet-diplomat can turn into spiritual healing
The Kathmandu Post, 1 August 2015 It was translated into Nepali as ''Jatra'' The Seduction of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

was shortlisted for the Muse India-Satish Verma Young Writer Award 2015.Poet-diplomat Abhay K's 'The Seduction of Delhi' shortlisted for Muse India award
''Business Standard'', 11 November 2015 The poet

Jayanta Mahapatra Jayanta Mahapatra (born 22 October 1928) is an Indian English poet. He is the first Indian poet to win a Sahitya Akademi award for English poetry. He is the author of poems such as "Indian Summer" and "Hunger", which are regarded as classic ...

, thinks "qualities of love, tenderness and compassion set Abhay K's work apart from much of the general run of current poetics." Pulitzer Prize winning poet Forrest Gander says about The Alphabets of Latin America(2020)-"Abhay K. has a great sense of lineation, of understatement, of memorable, very particular images, and of manuscript structure." Robert Fay in his piece 'In Search of the Writer-Diplomat tradition' writes- "India continues to maintain this venerable tradition, with poet Abhay Kumar serving in recent years as the Indian Ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros." Abhay K and Eleanor Catton at JLF 2015

Abhay Kumar's poems have appeared in several magazines and literary journals including Poetry Salzburg Review, The Asia Literary Review, Gargoyle, and The Caravan.Dara Shikoh and other poems
/ref> His poems have also been included in a number of anthologies including A Poem A Day edited by

Gulzar Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known professionally as Gulzar, is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this ...

(HarperCollins, 2020), The Younger Indian Poets edited by

Sudeep Sen Sudeep Sen (born 1964) is an Indian English poet and editor. Early life He was educated at St Columba's School in Delhi and received a degree in English literature from Hindu College, University of Delhi. He received a master's degree from t ...

(Sahitya Akademi, 2019), 100 Great Indian Poems (Bloomsbury, 2018), and The Himalayan Arc edited by

Namita Gokhale Namita Gokhale (born 1956) is an Indian writer, editor, festival director, and publisher. Her debut novel, ''Paro: Dreams of Passion'' was released in 1984, and she has since written fiction and nonfiction, and edited nonfiction collections. She ...

(HarperCollins, 2018). Abhay has read his poems at major

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

and literature festivals across the globe. In 2022 he appeared on the podcast
The Literary City
with

Ramjee Chandran Ramjee Chandran is a journalist and author. Chandran has been the Editor of Explocity a fortnightly magazine since 1998. According to The Daily Telegraph, ''Explocity'' is partly owned by Rupert Murdoch. He is also the host of the podcastThe Lit ...

, to talk about his career as a poet diplomat.

Editor

CAPITALS

In 2017, CAPITALS, an anthology of poems on the capital cities of the world edited by Abhay K., was released. It brought poets together from across the planet and included contributions from

Derek Walcott Sir Derek Alton Walcott (23 January 1930 – 17 March 2017) was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. His works include the Homeric epic poem '' Omeros'' (1990), which many critics view "as Walcot ...

Vijay Seshadri Vijay Seshadri (born 13 February 1954) is an American, Brooklyn, New York–based poet, essayist and literary critic. Vijay won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, for ''3 Sections''. Early life Vijay's parents immigrated to the United States ...

George Szirtes George Szirtes (; born 29 November 1948) is a British poet and translator from the Hungarian language into English. Originally from Hungary, he has lived in the United Kingdom for most of his life after coming to the country as a refugee at the ...

, and

Ruth Padel Ruth Sophia Padel FRSL FZS is a British poet, novelist and non-fiction author, known for her poetic explorations of migration, both animal and human, and her involvement with classical music, wildlife conservation and Greece, ancient and modern. ...

among other prominent poets from 185 countries.

100 Great Indian Poems

100 Great Indian Poems (2018) is an anthology of Indian poetry edited covering over 3000 years of Indian poetry and 28 Indian languages. It has been translated and published into Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Malagasy and Arabic.It has also been translated into French, Russian and Nepali, which will be published soon.

New Brazilian Poems

This anthology selected, edited and translated by Abhay K. contains the works of 60 contemporary Brazilian poets.

100 More Great Indian Poems

It is a sequel of 100 Great Indian Poems and was published in 2019 by Bloomsbury India.

The Bloomsbury Anthology of Great Indian Poems

It is a collection of 200 Great Indian Poems edited by Abhay K. and published in 2020.

The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems

He has also edited The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems sweeping through three millennia and over two dozen Indian languages.

The Book of Bihari Literature

It is a first anthology of its kind edited by Abhay K. which brings together poems and short stories from ten languages of Bihar spanning over 3000 years into English translation. It was published in October 2022 by HarperCollins India.

Lyricist

In 2013 Abhay released ''Earth Anthem'', a song intended as an anthem for the planet Earth, written by him and translated into eight languages including six official UN languages – Arabic, Chinese, French, English, Russian and Spanish – as well as Hindi and Nepali. It was set to music by Sapan Ghimire and sung by Shreya Sotang from

. It has been translated into over 130 languages."Indian Diplomat pens anthem for Earth"
''The New Indian Express'', 5 June 2013
Indo-Asian News Service, 27 June 2013 On World Environment Day 2017, Abhay K's Earth Anthem composed by

L. Subramaniam Lakshminarayana Subramaniam (born 23 July 1947) is an Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music. Early years Subramaniam was born in Madras, Madras Presidency, Brit ...

and sung by

Kavita Krishnamurthy Sharada Krishnamurthy, popularly known as Kavita Krishnamurthy or Kavita Subramaniam, is an Indian playback and classical singer. She has recorded 50,000 songs in 45 various Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Rajasthani, Bhoj ...

was released in Brasilia. A New video of Earth Anthem was released on 22 April 2020 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Earth Day. Over 100 eminent artists from across the world came together to read Earth Anthem to mark 51st anniversary of Earth Day on 22 April 2021. Abhay also wrote an

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short s ...

for the

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. Its member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan ...

(SAARC) in an attempt to foster South Asian consciousness and bring the member states of SAARC together. It has spurred discussions on the need for an official SAARC Anthem. He is the first Indian poet invited to record his poems at the

. He was given the epithet of 'World Poet' by Pulitzer Prize winning poet

He wrote Moon Anthem to mark the landing of Chandrayaan 2 on the Moon, which has been composed by Dr. L. Subramaniam and sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy. He has penned anthems on all the planets in the solar system.

Artist

Citation of SAARC Literary Award to poet-diplomat Abhay K

Abhay's art work focus on planetary consciousness. He has exhibited his paintings in St. Petersburg, Paris, New Delhi and Brasilia. Poetry-paintings of Abhay K and Italian artist Tarshito exhibited at the National Academy of Art, New Delhi highlight Delhi's glorious past.

Awards and recognition

*2012: 1st Prize by the Amity School of Business, Noida, India for the case study ''Digital Revolution and Business'' at the 8th Renvoi, an International Management Case Study Competition *2012: Nominated for the Pushcart Prize"IFS officer nominated for coveted Pushcart Prize", 2 December 2012
/ref> *2013:

"Poet Abhay K wins SAARC Literature Award"
, ''Hindustan Times'', 14 March 2013"Five writers honoured at the SAARC Literature Festival"
, PTI, 11 March 2013 -

Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature The Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL) is the only SAARC apex body in the SAARC The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in S ...

*2014: Asia-Pacific Excellence AwardAsia-Pacific Excellence Award to Indian poet-diplomat Abhay K
ANI, 14 October 2014

Works

Poetry Books

*''Enigmatic Love : Love poems from Moscow'' (Bookwell, 2009) *''Fallen Leaves of Autumn'' (ArtXpress, 2010) *''Candling the Light''(Yash, 2011) *''Remains'' (HarAnand, 2012) *''The Seduction of Delhi''(Bloomsbury, 2014) *''The Eight-eyed Lord of Kathmandu'' (Bloomsbury India , 2018) & (The Onslaught Press, Oxford & Paris, 2017) *''The Prophecy of Brasilia'' (Bilingual edition in English and Portuguese, GaNa, Brazil, 2018) *''The Alphabets of Latin America: A Carnival of Poems'' (Bloomsbury India , 2020) *''The Magic of Madagascar'' (Bilingual edition in French and English, L'Harmattan, Paris, 2021) *''Monsoon'' (Sahitya Akademi, India, 2022) *''Stray Poems'' (Poetrywala, India, 2022) *''Celestial'' (f/c 2022)

Translated

* Uttering Her Name by Gabriel Rosenstock (Salmon Ireland) into Hindi, 2015 * Meghaduta by Kalidasa into English (Bloomsbury, 2021) * Ritusamhara by Kalidasa into English (Bloomsbury, 2021)

Edited

*Anthology of Contemporary Indian English Poetry (Enchanting Verses Literary Review, 2016) *CAPITALS (Bloomsbury, 2017) *100 Great Indian Poems (Bloomsbury, 2017) * 100 More Great Indian Poems (Bloomsbury India, 2019) *The Bloomsbury Anthology of Great Indian Poems (Bloomsbury India, 2020) *New Brazilian Poems (Ibis Libris, 2019) * The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems (Bloomsbury, 2020) * The Book of Bihari Literature (HarperCollins, 2022)

Non-fiction

*''River Valley to Silicon Valley'' (Bookwell, 2007), republished as ''Becoming A Civil Servant'' (Kalinjar, 2015) *''10 Questions of the Soul'' (2010) *''Colours of Soul (Cvet Dushi)'' (2011)

Research Work on Poetry of Abhay K.

A PhD on "Cultural Construct of Self: A Critical Study of Abhay Kumar's Poetry" was awarded by Maharaja Ganga Singh University, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India to Amit Dhawan in 2017. Academician Sapna Dogra has written a research paper comparing 'A River'of A.K. Ramanujan and 'Yamuna' of Abhay K.
Approaching Abhay K.'s The Seduction of Delhi: A Study of Major Themes

A.K. Ramanujan's 'A River' and Abhay K's 'Yamuna': River as a Symbol of Endless Flow of Meanings

Quotes

*"Whatever be our individual, social or other interests, we should not forget that we have only one cosmic home, Earth."-Abhay K. *"We are humans, Earth is our home." - Abhay K. *"I was never born, I didn't die."- Abhay K. *"United we stand as flora and fauna, united we stand as species of one Earth."- Abhay K. *"There is no greater joy in life than the joy of creating something."- Abhay K. *"Poetry is an intrinsic need of our species."- Abhay K.*"Poetry is an intrinsic need of our species," says Ambassador Abhay Kumar
The Diplomat 4 February 2021 *"All the people and all the nations, one for all and all for one." -Abhay K.

References

External links

Abhay K.'s interview to The Diplomat, Asia Pacific
* [https://scroll.in/article/865259/a-diplomat-is-taking-indian-poetry-to-the-world-through-translations-of-a-hundred-great-poems A diplomat is taking Indian poetry to the world through translations of a hundred ‘ great poems’] Scroll.in
In search of the Writer-Diplomat tradition
RobertFay.com
How an Indian diplomat created an anthology of poetry on the world's capitals
Scroll.in

Mint Lounge
A Journey of thoughts with Abhay K on India's National Channel
''DD National''
Poetry reading at Jaipur Literature Festival 2015 Poetry 24x7 Start at 9 Min
'Jaipur Literature Festival''
Of poetry and passports
''The Hindu'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Abhay Indian diplomats English-language poets from India Kirori Mal College alumni Delhi University alumni Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni Indian civil servants 1980s births Living people Poets from Bihar Indian Foreign Service officers International Writing Program alumni Indian male poets Year of birth missing (living people)

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

21st-century Indian poets Ambassadors Poet-diplomats