Full piece in the Guardian here.

Canadian poet, Rupi Kaur, has sold over a million copies of her debut poetry collection, Milk and Honey. She is an international bestseller – which is virtually unheard of for a start-out poet. She has over a million Instagram followers. She was initially self published.

From the Guardian:

But the simplicity of her work has drawn criticism too. And Kaur says she is hurt by that. At the same time, she revels in being anti-establishment.

“I don’t fit into the age, race or class of a bestselling poet,” she says, a glint in her eye.

“I used to submit to anthologies and magazines when I was a student – but I knew I was never going to be picked up. All their writing was, you know, about the Canadian landscape or something. And my poem is about this woman with her legs spread open.”

Born in Punjab, India, Kaur moved with her Sikh family to Toronto when she was four. She loved reading at school, but with English her second language she found it difficult to understand most of the poetry. What she loved was cutting and pasting words and images, or filling up poems with drawings.