Rupi Kaur at Sharjah Book Fair: Poetry and Healing
“Writing is a way to process your emotions and when we process, we heal” said internationally best-selling poetess Rupi Kaur during her session at the Sharjah International Book Fair on Friday, Nov. 8.
The author of ‘Milk and Honey’, ‘Sun and Her Flowers’, and ‘Homebody’ graced the 43rd book fair to talk about her creative journey, her creative process, and her poetry.
Not only does the Canadian-Punjabi poetess write, but she also performs her poetry. She has her own Amazon Prime special called ‘Rupi Kaur Live’. She has had three successful world tours, gracing famous stages around the world.
“When I got up on the stage for the first time… it was very transformative to hear my voice through a microphone spread across the room and have people listen to me,” Kaur shared an anecdote about her first stage performance in high school.
“I had never experienced being heard at that level…so that’s when I decided that I wanted to keep going back on stage,” she added.
Rupi Kaur self-published her debut poetry collection ‘Milk and Honey’ in 2014. This book and her other collections have sold over 12 million copies and have been translated into more than 40 languages.
The poetess’ writing style is quite unique as she takes inspiration from her Punjabi culture. “In Punjab, we lean on poetry, music, and art to not escape, but process challenges and the difficulties of everyday life,” she said.
Her poems feature few verses and simple illustrations, which made her one of the first prominent Instapoets. However, she has received criticism for her poetry style; Priya Khaira-Hanks wrote that the poetess’ accessibility led to “oversimplicity”.
Nonetheless, in 2017, there was a rise in poetry sales in Canada and the United Kingdom was attributed to Kaur. In the same year, she was named women of the Year by BBC and Vogue. Despite the criticism her work has received, fans continue to love her poetry collections.
Kaur’s poetry features themes of women's empowerment and femininity, which have been key to the poetess’ motivation to write poetry. “I have always felt strongly about us [women] being able to use our voices and have our voices heard, which lets other young women know that they can use their voices too, because we all have a story to tell,” she shared at the event.
The poetess added, “From a young age, I saw the difficulties that the women in my community were experiencing. I needed a way to process those difficulties and writing was a way for me to do so.”
When asked about tackling writer’s block, the poetess said, “I've learned to do differently is also put less pressure on myself…. I listen to my inner voice. In today's busy world, we're so disconnected from that inner voice and our instinct, but that's what truth is.”
“Sometimes I put my books away and I go live poetry. You can't write poetry if you're not living,” she added.
The Canadian poetess also talked about healing through poetry, saying “So many of the personal questions we have, nobody can answer them for us, so only we can answer them. Therefore, writing is a way to process, and when we process, we heal.”
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When asked about her current creative endeavors, Kaur said, “I am writing in ways that are exciting for me… I want to use my time to move more slowly and really get back in touch with the fire that inspired me to create in the first place.”
The poetess ended the session by reciting some of her poetry, which included the poem ‘broken english’. Fans also got their favorite poetry collections signed by the poetess.
The Sharjah Book Fair is running until Sunday, Nov. 17 and will feature renowned artists, writers, entrepreneurs, and many more famous personalities.
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