Diplomat Abhay Kumar.Born in Nalanda district of Bihar wins SAARC prize Thursday 14th March, 2013

Portrait painting of Abhay K done by Vasily Bratanyuk, Oil on Canvas

Diplomat and poet Abhay K. has been awarded the SAARC Literature Award for his contribution to contemporary South Asian poetry.

The award was presented at the just-concluded SAARC Festival of Literature 2013 in Taj city Agra.

The poet, who had been posted in Moscow and is now in Kathmandu, has authored eight books including five anthologies of poetry - "Enigmatic Love" (2009), "Fallen Leaves of Autumn (2010)", "Candling the Light (2011)", "Remains (2012)" and "Seduction of Delhi".

Born in Nalanda district of Bihar in India in 1980, he studied at the Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Moscow State University and the George Washington University. He joined the Indian Foreign Service 2003.

Abhay Kumar  is an Indian poet, artist and diplomat. He has written several books including River Valley to Silicon Valley. His work in the field of digital diplomacy, philosophical poetry,art and global democracy inspires planetary consciousness. He has been honoured with the SAARC Literature Award.  His poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2013. In 2011, he has also received Gov2. award on behalf of the Public Diplomacy Division, Ministry of External Affairs

 

 He studied at the Kirori Mal College Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University. Later he joined the Indian Foreign Service in 2003. Moreover he studied Russian language, history and literature at the Moscow State University and U.S. Foreign Policy at the George Washington University.

His art works focus on planetary consciousness. He has exhibited his paintings in St. Petersburg (Russia), Paris (France) and New Delhi. His art works have also been appreciated.

Abhay's first book was River Valley to Silicon Valley. His poems have appeared in Indian Literature (IL 269), Kritya  Kathmandu Post  and several other Indian and foreign literary journals. His poetic works give humanistic outlook to Indian English Poetry. His poems deal with existential issues of the mankind, power play pervasive in our every day life, themes such as now and eternity, death and immortality.His poems have been recited by well known poets such as K. Satchidanandan  and A. J. Thomas.

He was Assistant Editor of India Perspectives, a monthly magazine published by the Ministry of External Affairs in 17 languages from September 2011- July 2012. He co-founded the 'Poetry at the Monument' poetry movement  to bring poetry back to Delhi and to pay homage to 3,000 years of Delhi's heritage.He has been strongly in favor of an Indian International Poetry Festival (IIPF) in Delhi which will not just promote poetry in India, but also bring peoples and cultures closer

He has served in different positions at the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India and at the Indian Missions and Posts abroad. Among the key successes of his office at the end of his two year tenure (July 2010 - July 2012) as in-charge of Digital Diplomacy at the Public Diplomacy Division, MEA were the bringing of 70 Indian embassies and missions on social media. His efforts helped India's national cultural institutions such as the Sahitya Akademi, the Lalit Kala Akademi and the National Gallery of Modern Art open their accounts on popular social media sites.

He has delivered guest lectures on the creative use of social media and global democracy at the leading universities and institutes of India which include Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU), Research and Information Systems (RIS) New Delhi, Amity University, NOIDA, Indian Society of International Law (ISIL) New Delhi, Indian Institute of Mass Communication(IIMC), New Delhi, Kirorimal College, Delhi University(DU), Management Development Institute(MDI), Gurgaon among others.

He as a diplomat visited Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He also wrote a paper proposing a SAARC University at Nalanda

source :India Gazette (IANS) and wp