Poet, novelist, short-story writer, playwright, translator and critic, Shiv K. Kumar was born in Lahore, where he received his school and college education. He obtained his doctorate in English literature from the University of Cambridge. He was professor of English at Osmania University and the Central University of Hyderabad. He was also a visiting professor of English in British, American, European and Australian universities.
Shiv K. Kumar has published eleven volumes of poems, five novels, two collections of short stories, a play and a translation of Faiz Ahmed Faiz into English. His poems and short stories have been broadcast over the BBC, and his poems have appeared in the New York Times, Poetry Review (London), Western Humanities Review, among others.
In 1978, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (London). He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1987 for his collection of poems Trapfalls in the Sky. In 2001, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to literature.