Abhay Kumar

Abhay Kumar/Abhay K (Hindi: अभय कुमार) (born 1980) is an Indian poet-diplomat. His books include The Seduction of Delhi among others. His writings cover poetry, art, memoir, global democracy and digital diplomacy. He wrote the Earth Anthem and the South Asian Anthem spurring search for an official SAARC Anthem.

He received the SAARC Literary Award for his contribution to contemporary South Asian Poetry and nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2013. In 2011, he also received the Gov 2.0 award on behalf of the Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs. He has been featured as a nominee on the longlist of the Forbes India 100 Celebrity list and has been honoured with Asia-Pacific Excellence Award in 2014. His book The Seduction of Delhi was shortlisted for Muse India-Satish Verma Young Writer Award 2015.

Early life

Abhay was born and raised at Chhabilapur near Rajgir in Nalanda district of Bihar. He studied at the Kirori Mal College Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 2003. He studied Russian language, history and literature at the Moscow State University, Nepali language at the Tribhuvan University, U.S. Foreign Policy at the George Washington University and how writers write poetry at The International Writing Program, The University of Iowa.