Abdullah Kamal was born on April 17, 1948 in Muzaffarpur (Bihar). His father Hafiz Mohammad Siddiqui was a learned man of his village. There was a good collection of religious and literary books in his house. Abdullah Kamal had read many of these books at an early age. Learned Arabic, Urdu and Persian in school. Matriculated from Abida High School, which was an English medium high school. He traveled to various cities in search of livelihood, and finally settled in Mumbai, and did BA from Maharashtra College.

In his early days, he continued to translate English novels for the daily Inqilab until 1967. He used to write fiction but renounced it and started writing poetry, becoming the master of modernist poetry in Mumbai. He also expanded as an academician, as he obtained an M.A. in Urdu and Persian. Meanwhile, he set out one of his important works, ‘Mukhtasar Urdu Lughat’ which was published in 1987 by Anjuman-e-Tarqi Urdu. Three of his poetry collections have been published, ‘Main’ (1970), ‘Be-Asman’ (1987), and another work published posthumously by Shirin Dihlavi containing his remaining poems.

Abdullah Kamal was a regular at Mushairas, and used to recite poems in a very soft tone. Abdullah Kamal's language, style and expression are also very refreshing. He has also discovered his own poetic language and symbols.

For many years, Abdullah Kamal was Raj Khosla's assistant director. Later, due to his mercurial temperament, he left Direction and became associated with the literary world, and turned to journalism for a living. His prose, too, was very good.

Abdullah Kamal had a heart attack twelve times in about twelve years. And one day, the count became one too many; the day he left all of us.