Rupi Kaur

Kaur notes her first performance to be in the basement of the Punjabi Community Health Centre in Malton around 2009.[14] Throughout her high school, Kaur shared her writing anonymously. From 2013 onward, she began sharing her work under her own name on Tumblr before taking to Instagram in 2014, in which she also started adding simple thematic illustrations.[15]

Kaur's first book, an anthology titled milk and honey, was self-published on Createspace on 4 November 2014.[16][6] Her inspiration for the book's name came from a past poem which included a line about women surviving terrible times. She describes the change in the women as, "smooth as milk and as thick as honey."[17] A collection of observations, prose, and hand-drawn illustrations, the book is divided into four chapters, and each chapter depicts a different theme.[13][18]

In March 2015, Kaur posted a series of photographs to Instagram depicting herself with menstrual blood stains on her clothing and bed sheets. Described as a piece of visual poetry, it formed her final project for her undergraduate studies[19] and is considered as among her more notable works; intended to challenge prevalent societal menstrual taboos.[20] They were pulled down for not complying with the site's terms of service.[20][21] Instagram brought back the images, citing a mistaken removal, and apologized to her after being criticized for displaying the very response that the works were intended to critique.[19][21][22][23][24] The incident is credited for bringing Kaur more followers and leading to the subsequent rise in popularity of her poetry.[25]

As Kaur rose to prominence on social media, milk and honey was re-released by Andrews McMeel Publishing.[6] Book sales of milk and honey surpassed the 2.5 million copy mark and it was the 8th bestselling fiction book in Canada in 2016.[26][27] As of June 7, 2020, the book has been listed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 165 weeks.[28] Milk and Honey has since been translated into 25 languages.[15] In the United Kingdom, Kaur was credited with an increase in poetry sales seen in 2017.[29]

Her second book, The Sun and Her Flowers, was published on 3 October 2017.[30][31] As of January 5, 2020, the book has been listed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 76 weeks.[32] milk and honey was the best-selling book in Canada in 2017 and The Sun and Her Flowers was the 7th bestselling fiction book.[33] In 2018, The Sun and Her Flowers was the 9th bestselling book in Canada, with milk and honey placing 8th.[34]

In 2019, she was commissioned by Penguin Classics to write an introduction for a new edition of Khalil Gibran's The Prophet, in anticipation of that book entering the public domain in the United States.[35]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaur moved back in to her parents' house in Brampton and began teaching workshops on Instagram Live.[36]

Kaur released her new poetry collection, entitled home body, on Nov. 17, 2020.[2] The collection also features illustrations from Kaur.[2][37] It was the second best-selling Canadian fiction book of the week for three weeks after its release,[38][39][40] and remained in the top five into 2021.[41] It also reached #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list for fiction paperbacks,[42] and has remained there for all seven weeks after its release.[43]