Kaveh Akbar

Kaveh Akbar (b. 15 January 1989; Persian: کاوه اکبر) is an Iranian American poet, novelist, and editor. He is the author of the poetry collections Calling a Wolf a Wolf and Pilgrim Bell and of the novel Martyr!, a New York Times bestseller, National Book Award finalist, and one of Barack Obama's favorite books of the year.

He is director of the undergraduate creative writing program at the University of Iowa. He is the founder of Divedapper and Poetry Editor of The Nation. In 2018, NPR called him "poetry's biggest cheerleader". In 2024, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship and Time magazine put him on its TIME100 Next List.