Who is Valmiki from Gods, Demons, and Others and what is their importance?

In Hindu folklore, is known as the greatest story teller of all time, or the Adi Kavi: the fountainhead of poetry, or the foremost poet. Valmiki composed the 24 thousand stanzas of the Ramayana, which is known in one form or another to every man, woman and child in the Hindu culture. The main character of the Ramayana is Rama, who revealed himself to Valmiki in a vision. Valmiki did not begin as such, in his first lives, he was a thief and a hunter, but through a thousand years of penance, he emerged as Valmiki.