Rupi Kaur was born in 1992 in India and moved in Canada four years later. This inspirational woman was born a Sikh, and comes from a culture in which expressing yourself as a woman isn’t acceptable. Her parents encouraged her to let go her emotions on paper and later realised it would be difficult for her to fit in a society that doesn’t value emotionality.
At first, Rupi Kaur’s favorite art was drawing. In high school, she did a poem to complete one of her drawing and didn’t realised until much later that it was meant to be her job. At Waterloo University, she studied writing and art. She was first known by the public online when she posted poetry, drawings and pictures on her Instagram account rupikaur_. In 2014, she self-published her first poetry collection Milk and Honey that fist sold about 20 000 copies on amazon. Rupi Kaur became more popular after she posted a photo of a woman in her period lying in pyjama that was removed by Instagram. When she put it back, her response was, «I will not apologize for not feeding the ego and pride of misogynist society that will have my body in underwear but not be okay with a small leak. » The massive approval from her fans forced Instagram to give up the case. Eventually, this gave her more recognition and she was published by an editor, selling over 1.4 millions of copies. Now, she is well known as an insta-poet, writer, and spoken word artist. She recently published a new collection of poem The Sun and Her Flowers and a novel One Nri Girl.

Nowadays, the woman’s art is inspired by her experience as a woman but also by her experience as a sensible human being. Her poetry is direct, revolting, emotionally relatable and widely criticized and praised for its simplicity. For many readers, it is revolutionary because poetry is made accessible for most readers and the message isn’t blurred by complex literary devices. Subjects in Rupi Kaur’s work include rape, violence, self-esteem, alcoholism, immigration, healing, unhealthy relationships, love and the woman body. As a feminist, she believes her poetry I for man and woman to understand the woman’s reality better. Her vision of feminism is inclusive, intersectional and modern.

What is most interesting about Rupi Kaur’s success is that she knew «there was no market for poetry about trauma, abuse, loss, love and healing through the lens of a Punjabi-Sikh immigrant woman» and still made art for herself first and then, for the public. She literally created interest for her work, perhaps because her directness is so relatable.

Youtube links :

Official website: rupikaur.com

Official Instagram : rupikaur_