Poet Rupi Kaur has been on a world tour for much of the past year, interacting with a very small portion of the millions of fans she has attracted through her social media platforms. On her tour, she showcases her poetry and discusses her personal journey through, as she says on her website, “loss and love, growth, mental health, community, friendship and strength.”
Just 21 when she released milk and honey, a self-published illustrated collection of poetry and art, Kaur quickly became a phenomenon. Her subsequent poetry books, the sun and her flowers and home body, also became worldwide bestsellers, and in 2021 Kaur produced and starred in her debut film, Rupi Kaur Live, which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video. This fall, Kaur, now 29, is publishing Healing Through Words (S&S Canada), a collection of guided writing prompts intended to foster creativity, encourage celebration of the self, and help readers process trauma, loss, heartache, love, and healing.
Healing Through Words aims to help readers express themselves as you have done. What is your view of poetry or writing as a tool for self-expression, self-exploration, or even self-therapy?
Writing has always been the way I’ve come to understand life experiences. I’ve been able to reflect, grow, and make art out of all the joy and pain life has shown me through the written word, and I get to share that with the world. Sometimes, healing comes from honest conversations with yourself, and writing allows you the space and freedom to do so. There is an unimpeachable power in words, and I hope my new book, Healing Through Words, provides that same freedom for others, perhaps even giving it a higher purpose.
How has your work evolved, particularly as you grow older and face different challenges?
I think you can tell from the evolution of my previous three books—although they all carry similar themes of trauma, love, healing, loss, sexuality, community, etc. I’ve also expressed different perspectives on all of them. As time goes on, I dive into themes I haven’t before in previous bodies of work. I’ve written each book in different stages of my life. My first book, milk and honey, was written when I was a university student in my dorm room. My second book, the sun and her flowers, was written when I was a young author navigating newfound recognition for my work. My third was home body, written during a period of depression and during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. Each time, I found myself inspired to write and emphasize different emotions or experiences from those time periods. I’ve also written a lot more about community and our role and responsibility as stewards of nature in my latter books.
Do you feel a responsibility to your readers to continue to be vulnerable and revelatory?
I feel a responsibility to continue being vulnerable with myself. If I can’t remain vulnerable with myself, I can’t create. If I were writing for others, I don’t think I’d be able to do it. I share my writing because it makes me feel connected to other people—but only what I feel confident and good about. There are a number of poems where I am deeply raw and honest, and those will never be published because those are for me. To an extent, I still have to protect myself and my space if I hope to remain a writer who shares her work publicly for decades to come.
Has your commercial success complicated your self-image?
I write poetry, but I’m a human first. I’m a woman first. I’m a Punjabi-Sikh woman first. I just happen to be on a very public journey, which complicates things, but that’s why I always remind myself: I am allowed to step outside of the box the world sees me in. In fact, I owe it to myself—to feel alive.
How did your background as a Canadian influence your work?
I think one of the most amazing things about Canada and Toronto specifically is the diversity I grew up around. It never felt like I needed to shed my Punjabi or Sikh heritage to be Canadian—in fact being Canadian meant I could hold onto it, and share it with those around me. Moving to Canada gave us the promise of a brighter future, while also allowing us to feel deeply connected to our roots from the motherland. I’m proud of my background and it will always be deeply rooted in my work.
