Yakoob is a well-known name in the world of Telugu letters. A College teacher by profession, he is a poet, researcher, writer and singer by choice and natural propensities. Born in a remote village, Rottamaku Revu in the district of Khammam, Andhra Pradesh, Yakoob did his schooling and undergraduate studies in Khammam district before moving to Hyderabad to pursue his higher education. He completed his Master’s degree in Telugu from Osmania University in 1987 and went on to do his M.Phil and Ph.D subsequently.
During his college days Yakoob as a student activist lent expression to his anguish, angst, frustration, feelings and emotions through the medium of poetry and soon became a popular poet on the Telugu literary scene. Yakoob’s early poems go back to 1985 and his first anthology, “pravahinche gnaapakam” published in 1992, earned widespread accolades and has already gone through two reprints.
His next collection of poems, “sarihaddu rekha”, comprising more than a hundred poems was published in 2002. According to the reputed editor and critic, Gudipati, “Yakoob’s individualism and uniqueness came to be firmly established with “sarihaddu rekha”. Incidentally, this anthology was released by Gnanakootan, the eminent Tamil poet and was chosen as the topic for a Ph.D dissertation by a research scholar of Sri Venkateswara University.
In the year 2009, the publication of Yakoob’s next anthology, “yedategani prayaanam” marked another milestone in his literary career.
Yakoob’s early poems were translated into English and published under the title “Arc of Unrest” in the year 2000. At a memorable function, the book was released by Dr. K. Satchidanandan, former Secretary of Central Sahitya Akademi.
Yakoob has edited twelve books and has authored seven books to his credit, of which three are anthologies of his verses, while the others fall under the domain of literary criticism. Yakoob’s poems have been translated in Hindi, English, Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada. Yakoob has been the recipient of several awards and honors over the years.
Currently, he an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Telugu, Anwarul Uloom (Autonomous) College in Hyderabad.
