Poet-diplomat

Poet-Diplomats are poets who have also served their countries as diplomats. Perhaps the best known is Geoffrey Chaucer. Some of them, such as Gabriela Mistral, Saint-John Perse, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Pablo Neruda, George Seferis, Czesław Miłosz and Octavio Paz have won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Contemporary poet-diplomats include Abhay K,Indran Amirthanayagam, Kofi Awoonor, Philip McDonagh, Yiorgos Chouliaras among others. The Ghanaian poet-diplomat Kofi Awoonor, who was widely translated and anthologized, was killed recently at Nairobi Mall Massacre.

Abhay K himself wrote, "There seems to be a connection between poetry and diplomacy as several diplomats over the ages have excelled in poetry". He further adds, "Diplomacy is a complex art that involves the mixing of political acumen, cultural finesse, language abilities and conversation skills to wield the power of persuasion. Diplomacy is generally conducted in short sentences which reveal as much as much they hide. Poetry is no different".