Anant Kumar (born September 28, 1969 in Katihar/Bihar), is a German author, translator and literary critic of Indian descent. He spent his childhood in Motihari, where his father Rajendra Prasad was Professor at M. S. College, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University. He resides in Kassel, Germany. In 2024 he was counted among the representative citizens in the city Kassel.
The son of an Indian teacher from Bihar, Kumar went to college from 1991 to 1998 at the GHK (Gesamthochschule Kassel), where he received a master's degree in German literature, writing his thesis on Alfred Döblin’s epic novel Manas.
In his literary works, Kumar connects the experiences of a foreigner in German society with Indian culture. His first work, Fremde Frau, fremder Mann (Foreign Woman, Foreign Man), is characterized by its pithy insights and expressive perceptiveness. The aspects of observational satire and finely ironic comment are constant elements throughout Kumar’s work. In his work Zeru—A Seven Day Story Kumar alludes to the literary form of the epos and brilliantly depicts the colorful array of daily life for an African boy amid wild and ancient myths of the dark continent.
Anant Kumar is a member of the Association of German Authors and the Literary Society of Hessen.