Abu Abraham was born Attupurathu Mathew Abraham to A.M. Mathew and Kantamma at Tiruvalla, Kerala. In 1945, he graduated from University College, Thiruvananthapuram, with French, Mathematics, and English as his subjects. He was a reporter on the Bombay Chronicle and its afternoon sister paper the Bombay Sentinel from 1946-51, drawing cartoons in his spare time for Blitz magazine and the political journal Bharat. Abu’s cartooning breakthrough came in 1950 when famous cartoonist Shankar Pillai asked him to come to New Delhi to draw for his periodical, Shankar’s Weekly. From 1951, he was working as staff cartoonist at Shankar’s Weekly, based in New Delhi (till 1953). His colleagues included cartoonists Kutty and T. Samuel.

In 1953, Abraham met Fred Joss of the London Star, who encouraged him to move to London. He arrived in London in the same year. His first Punch cartoon was published on 4th November, 1953. After two cartoons were published in the Tribune, he was sent a personal letter by David Astor, the editor of The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, offering him a permanent job as its first ever political cartoonist in 1956. Abraham took on the pen name ‘Abu’ while at The Observer, after Astor remarked that his Jewish-sounding name was bringing a twist to his cartoons on the Israel–Palestine conflict. Thus, ‘abu’ was the signature that appeared on his first Observer cartoon, published on 8 April 1956. He became a daily ‘pocket’ (single-column) cartoonist for the Guardian (1966-1969).

In 1969, Abu returned to India with his first wife (Sarojini, from Tamil Nadu) and two daughters, Ayisha and Janaki, to work as the political cartoonist on the Indian Express (until 1981). It was at the Indian Express that he made famous his signature caricaturing of the tall and short politicians in Private View. He was nominated a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1972 – a position he held till 1978. Abu moved to Trivandrum in 1989 where he continued to syndicate his cartoons to newspapers across India. He built a house there, designed by the architect, Laurie Baker. Abu’s publications include Verdicts on Vietnam (1968), Abu on Bangladesh (1972), Private View (1974), and Games of Emergency (1977) among others. Abu Abraham passed away at the age of 78 on 1 December, 2002. His death was marked by a two-minute silence in the Rajya Sabha and he was cremated with full state honours.