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Rupi Kaur

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Rupi Kaur
Rupi Kaur reading from her book milk and honey in Vancouver in 2017
Kaur in 2017
Born (1992-10-05) 5 October 1992 (age 31)
Punjab, India
OccupationAuthor, poet
LanguageEnglish
CitizenshipCanadian
Notable worksMilk and Honey, The Sun and Her Flowers
Website
rupikaur.com Edit this at Wikidata

Rupi Kaur (born 5 October 1992) is an Indian-Canadian poet, writer, illustrator, and performer. Her debut book, a collection of poetry and prose titled Milk and Honey, was published in 2014.[1] Her second book, The Sun and Her Flowers, was published in 2017.

Early life

Kaur was born into a Sikh family in Punjab, India. She emigrated to Canada with her parents when she was four years old. Unable to speak English with other children at her school, Kaur was inspired by her mother to draw and paint..[2] She would write poems to her friends on their birthdays and messages to her middle school crushes.[3] She attended Turner Fenton Secondary School.[4]

Kaur studied rhetoric and professional writing at the University of Waterloo, Ontario.[3] Later, she and her family moved to Brampton.[5] She currently resides in Toronto, Ontario.[5]

Career

Kaur's first performance took place in 2009 in the basement of the Punjabi Community Health Centre in Malton.[2] Among her more notable works is her photo-essay on menstruation, described as a piece of visual poetry intended to challenge societal menstrual taboos.[6]

Throughout high school, Kaur shared her writing anonymously. In 2013, she began sharing her work under her own name on Tumblr. She took her writing to Instagram in 2014 and began adding simple illustrations. As in Gurmukhi script, her work is written exclusively in lowercase, using only the period as a form of punctuation. Kaur writes this way to honor her culture. She has said that she enjoys the equality of letters and that the style reflects her worldview.[2] Her written work is meant to be an experience that is easy for the reader to follow, with simple drawings to elevate her words.[7] Common themes found throughout her works include abuse, femininity, love, and heartbreak.[8]

Publications

Kaur's first book, an anthology titled Milk and Honey (stylized as milk and honey), was published on November 4th, 2014.[9] A collection of poetry, prose, and hand-drawn illustrations, the book is divided into four chapters, and each chapter depicts a different theme.[3][10] Book sales of milk and honey surpassed the 2.5 million copy mark.[11] The book was on The New York Times Best Seller list for over 77 weeks.[12]

Her second book, The Sun and Her Flowers, was published on October 3rd, 2017.[13][14] Works in this collection explore a variety of themes including loss, trauma, healing, femininity, migration, and revolution.[15]

Influences

Kaur draws inspiration from various scholars including [16] Kahlil Gibran, Alice Walker, and Sharon Olds. She has also been influenced by Sikh scriptures.[3][17] The experience of learning English upon moving to Canada has influenced her writing style.[9]

Controversies

In March 2015, she posted a photo on Instagram that showed her lying in bed with menstrual blood stains on her sweatpants and her sheets.[18][19][20] [21][22]

In April 2015, poet and author Nayyirah Waheed stated that Kaur's poetry has an "extreme hyper similarity" to her own poetry, such as the poetry featured in her book Salt. Kaur did not respond to the allegation.[23][24][25][26][27]

References

  1. ^ Desk, BWW News. "#1 New York Times Best Seller MILK AND HONEY by Rupi Kaur Hits One Million Copies". Retrieved 15 April 2017. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  2. ^ a b c "bio | rupi kaur". Rupi Kaur. 17 November 2016. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d "Milk & Honey: A Poet Exposes Her Heart". Kaur Life. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  4. ^ http://bramptonist.com/poet-rupi-kaur-inducted-into-bramptons-arts-walk-of-fame/
  5. ^ a b "How Rupi Kaur Became the Voice of Her Generation". Flare. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  6. ^ Briscoll, Drogan. "Feminist Artist Rupi Kaur, Whose Period Photograph Was Removed From Instagram: 'Men Need To See My Work Most'". Huffington Post. Huffington Post. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  7. ^ "thetimesofindia". Rupi Kaur. 31 July 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  8. ^ "milk and honey Themes - eNotes.com". eNotes. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  9. ^ a b Wilson, Carl (15 December 2017). "Why Rupi Kaur and Her Peers Are the Most Popular Poets in the World". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  10. ^ "Feminismo, violación y pérdida: así es la poesía de Rupi Kaur". La Vanguardia. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  11. ^ Roy, Nilanjana (23 February 2018). "Voices of the new 'Instagram poets': Love them or hate them, thy hold the stage". Financial Times. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  12. ^ Mzezewa, Tariro (5 October 2017). "Rupi Kaur Is Kicking Down the Doors of Publishing". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  13. ^ The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur, Andrews McMeel Publishing
  14. ^ Kaur, Rupi (October 2017). the sun and her flowers (First ed.). London, New York, Sydney, Toronto, New Dellhi: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4711-6582-5.
  15. ^ "about | rupi kaur". rupikaur.com. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  16. ^ Charleston, Erin Spencer Digital Marketer in; SC (22 January 2015). "Rupi Kaur: The Poet Every Woman Needs To Read". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  17. ^ Jain, Atishsa (22 October 2016). "A poet and rebel: How Insta-sensation Rupi Kaur forced her way to global fame". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  18. ^ "Student's final project goes viral and makes change happen - period". 7 May 2015. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  19. ^ "The picture Instagram didn't want you to see". The Independent. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  20. ^ "Instagram post by rupi kaur • Mar 25, 2015 at 4:02am UTC". Instagram. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  21. ^ Lese, Kathryn. "Padded Assumptions: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Patriarchal Menstruation Discourse". commons.lib.jmu.edu. James Madison University.
  22. ^ Sanghani, Radhika (30 March 2015). "Instagram deletes woman's period photos - but her response is amazing". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
  23. ^ http://aliahatch.tumblr.com/post/115222210212/nayyirahwaheed-loves-it-is-with-a-truly-heavy
  24. ^ "Did Rupi Kaur plagiarize parts of 'Milk & Honey' from this Tumblr poet?". babe. 24 July 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  25. ^ Giovanni, Chiara. "The Problem With Rupi Kaur's Poetry". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  26. ^ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdy7P6ygb-R/?taken-by=lailare_
  27. ^ "Instagram post by Laila Re • Jan 13, 2018 at 1:59pm UTC". Instagram. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
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