Rupi Kaur

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Who Is Rupi Kaur?

Posted on December 18, 2022  •  by Karl Gecalao

Rupi Kaur is a renowned Indo-Canadian poet, author, and artist. 

At her current age of 30, Rupi Kaur has undoubtedly come a long way; from being unable to sufficiently speak and write in English until the age of ten, to having won numerous accolades for her incredibly captivating poetic and literary works. Presently, Rupi maintains an extensive Instagram following of 4.5 million supporters, in addition to one of her poetic works, milk and honey, becoming a New York Times #1 bestseller.

Images of Rupi Kaur from her Instagram Profile

Early Life

Born into an ethnically-Sikh family on October 4, 1992, Rupi would spend the first three years of her life situated in her birthplace of Punjab, India. As a result of the increasingly gruesome 1984 anti-Sikh riots which Rupi and her parents were witnessing firsthand in their hometown, a three-year-old Rupi, with a mother and father determined to pursue a better future for their young children, would immigrate to Toronto, Canada, later permanently settling in Brampton, Ontario.

Influences and Inspirations

Growing up, there have been a number of figures in Rupi’s upbringing that have played a significant role in shaping her particular style of writing, one that speaks of “love, loss, pain, empowerment, womanhood, abuse, trauma and sexuality like no one else” (Global Indian). Prior to Rupi’s birth, her mother pursued an artistic hobby of painting, whereas her father—who, at the time, was working in Japan—wrote Punjabi poetry to Rupi’s mother in India (Gopal and Shah). 

Taking a deeper look at Rupi Kaur’s poetry collections, it is evident that her familial relationships and experiences largely contribute to the chosen intentions and styles in Rupi’s poetic and literary works. Indeed, in a 2017 interview on Girlboss Radio, Rupi mentions how the majority of her life was spent primarily around her mother and her side of the family, as shortly before Rupi’s birth, his father—a refugee—moved from India to Canada to work as a truck driver, consequently resulting in Rupi having an absent father figure for the first three years of her life (Amoruso 4:29 - 4:50). 

│ I grew up in a place where there were so many people around, where 

│ the weather was always warm, where there was so much love, and rich

│ color. And then suddenly, you land in a place in the dead of winter, with 

│ this unfamiliar person coming to greet you.

│

│ — RUPI KAUR, Girlboss Interview 

It was not until Rupi reached the age of four that she, her mother, and her younger siblings emigrated to Canada to reunite with her father. This sudden departure and change in environment, however, was not the easiest of transitions for the young, developing Rupi. Later on, Rupi would state how that was “[the moment] where the juxtaposition began—that’s when things started to switch for me on the inside,” seeing how Rupi transitioned from a place of warmth, vivid colours, and endless love, to one caught in a seemingly incessant winter, isolated from family and relatives, and greeted by a complete stranger known to be her father (Girlboss).

Listen to the full 50-minute Girlboss podcast conversation with Rupi Kaur above!

As previously mentioned, Rupi’s mother and father held a background in both the painting of art and the writing of poetry, which was an evident factor in nurturing Rupi’s creative and artistic talents. From an early age, Rupi, like her mother, was inspired to express her emotions and experiences through artistic mediums including writing and painting (Haggstrom).

Moreover, in a number of interviews and articles with Rupi Kaur, she mentions numerous times how her mother is arguably the most influential individual in her life and in the writing of her poetry, given that she has stayed by Rupi’s side since her birth and even now continues to do so. During one of Rupi Kaur’s performances at the Tribeca Performing Arts Centre, she tells the audience an anecdote about how, as an immigrant child in Canada, she would deliberately distance herself from her mother out of shame and embarrassment—of her mother’s accent, culture, religion, and customs (Carlin). Later on into adulthood, Rupi would realize her wrongdoing in being ashamed of her mother, in turn, rousing the inspiration for Rupi’s poem “broken english”, in which she speaks about the sacrifices and hardships her mother endured as a result of her immigration to Canada,  while at the time berating herself for the shame she felt.

│ I’m in awe of all that she’s done. There are days where she’ll question what she has 

│ accomplished over these past 25 years. She’ll tell herself, “I didn’t do anything, I 

│ didn’t even learn the language. I can’t operate a phone, I can’t even use the laptop, 

│ I can’t do any of those things.” She calls herself stupid and that always makes me

│ cry. It inspired so much of my second book.

│

│ — RUPI KAUR, Girlboss Interview 

This influence provided by Rupi’s mother is actively seen in several of Rupi’s poems and poetic collections, particularly in Rupi’s second literary work, the sun and her flowers, in which a number of poems speak about her mother and the adversities she had to endure to provide a better upbringing for Rupi and her siblings (Girlboss).

Two weeks after the publication of the sun and her flowers, Rupi Kaur's second major work, it swiftly achieved the #2 spot on Amazon's best-seller list, and featured in the top ten Best Sellers list on the New York Times (McMeel and Mzezewa).

Intentions and Style of Writing

While Rupi Kaur writes on an array of topics including love, loss, family, femininity, and others, the format and style with which she expresses herself has piqued the curiosity of her many readers.

In several instances, Rupi demonstrates her keen resolve on these topics not only through her poetry but also through her actions. An example of this was in 2015 when Rupi—as a part of a project for her Visual Rhetoric course at the University of Waterloo—uploaded on Instagram an image of herself lying in bed with a conspicuous menstrual stain on both her clothing and bedsheets (Haggstrom). While the controversy brought about by this image's deletion by the Instagram staff, this incident would only strengthen Rupi’s resolve to advocate on the topic of feminine issues created by societal norms, as well as inspire her to create a collective voice for women through poetry (Driscoll).

│ When the photo was removed a second time it became more than a school project,

│ it became a fight.

│

│ — RUPI KAUR, HuffPost UK Lifestyle Inteview

In terms of her poetry, Rupi is chiefly known for short-length poems accompanied by her own hand-drawn illustrations and narrations. Early in her career, Rupi would upload these works on her Instagram account, provoking the interest of many readers, in turn, allowing her to amass the avid support needed to publish her later works.

Furthermore, another substantial attribute of Kaur’s writing would be her deliberate and sole use of lowercase letters. Although there exists a number of reasons why she follows this avant-garde-like style of writing, Rupi states on her website that—in addition to creating a flow of symmetry and equallness in her writing—it is to pay homage to her Punjabi roots, namely Gurmukhi (the script that her native language of Punjabi is written in), which also does not utilize English system of uppercase and lowercase letters (Kaur, "My Story").

Rupi Kaur: Published Works

Presently, Rupi Kaur has published four major collections of poetry:

• milk and honey (2014)

• the sun and her flowers (2017)

• home body (2020)

• Healing Through Words (2022)

Although each book touches on various aspects and topics, a sense of interconnected is established as it unites the major experiences and qualities of Rupi's identity and journey.