Shiv K. Kumar

Shiv K. Kumar (born 16 August 1921) is an Indian English poet, playwright, novelist, and short story writer .

Early life and education

Shiv K Kumar was born in Lahore, British India, in 1921. He matriculated from Dayanand Anglo Vedic High School in 1937. He studied for his B.A. at Government College, Lahore and his M.A. at Forman Christian College, Lahore (1943)

Career

In 1943, he joined D.A.V. College Lahore as a lecturer, but moved to Delhi during the Partition. After brief stints as lecturer at Hansraj College, Delhi, and as programme officer at the All India Radio, Delhi, he left India to join Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge in 1950. In 1956 he received his PhD in English Literature from the University of Cambridge. The topic of his dissertation was 'Bergson and the Stream of Consciousness Novel'. His research supervisor was Professor David Daiches. He was also tutored by the influential British critic F.R. Leavis during his stay in Cambridge.

Shiv K. Kumar taught English literature at Osmania University, Hyderabad, and the University of Hyderabad. During 1972–74, he was a UGC National Lecturer in English. He is the founder Head of the Department of English and the first Dean of the School of Humanities at the University of Hyderabad. He retired as the Vice-Chancellor (I/c) of the University of Hyderabad in 1980. He was Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Universities of Oklahoma and Northern Iowa, and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Drake, Hofstra, Marshall, etc. He was also a Visiting Fulbright Fellow at Yale University. He was nominated as a member of the Jury for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature (USA, 1981).