According to the latest version of Ramayana, Rama was avatar of the supreme god Vishnu. Ramayana was written by an unknown poet. It is in the format of a story within a story. Ramayana is the story of a rishi called Valmiki. Valmiki accidentally came upon a meter (tune) for poems. Then his friend Narada, son of Brahma, came by for a social visit. Narada asked him: 'who is the perfect gentleman on earth (maryada purushotham)?' Valmiki listed the qualities he expected in the perfect gentleman. Narada replied that all the qualities which Valmiki had described cannot be found in one man. However, he had heard from his father Brahma about a perfect gentleman. His name was Rama. Then, Narada narrated the story of Rama who lived a long time before them. Then, god Brahma came by. He told Valmiki to compose the story of Rama in the meter which he has accidentally discovered. Valmiki obliged and composed the story of Rama based on what he heard from Narada. The epic Ramayana tells us how and what Valmiki, the lead character in Ramayana, composed in six khandas. Note: Valmiki, the hunter who shot the mating bird, Narada, god Brahma, Rama are all fictional characters in the epic Ramayana.] The unknown author of Ramayana gave the title 'Adi kavi' (first poet) to his character Valmiki and the title 'Adi kavyam' (first poem) to his composition 'the story of Rama'. So, within the fictional epic 'Ramayana', the lead character Valmiki is the first poet and his composition 'story of Rama' is the first poem. It is generally believed that Ramayana was the first poem (Adi Kavyam) and its author was the first poet. Ramayana is the oldest surviving book composed by anyone anywhere. Surely there were many poems, epics, dramas, philosophical treatises etc. before and at the time of Ramayana. But none of them survived millennia.