Melville believes that Kaur’s collection has also been boosted by the author’s readings of her work. Rupi is not afraid to challenge taboos, and this brave form of expression inspires her readers.” “Rupi’s honest, authentic voice speaks to young people who relate to her depiction of pain and struggle but ultimate sense of hope. “The emotional intensity of Rupi’s message of self-empowerment and affirmation, combined with her passionate audience really resonated and we could see through sales of her self-published edition that her readers were really responding to her message,” she said. Melville said the publisher had been looking to acquire North American writers who “spoke to a similar audience of young adult readers” following its success with New Zealand author Leav’s collections, Love & Misadventure and Lullabies, when it came across Kaur. They stayed for the poetry and that was such a beautiful gift in disguise.” Her followers swelled as she refused to remain silent, writing that “I will not apologise for not feeding the ego and pride of misogynist society that will have my body in underwear but not be okay with a small leak.”ĭescribed as one of the emerging Instapoets, alongside writers including Lang Leav – also published by Andrews McMeel – and Tyler Knott Gregson, Kaur told the Guardian in August that when she started to publish her poems online following her Instagram stand-off, it was “really scary”. Kaur, who is based in Toronto, hit the headlines in 2015 when a self-portrait she posted on Instagram was removed by the site for showing a small amount of menstrual blood. Topping Amazon US’s poetry book charts ahead of works including Claudia Rankine’s award-winning Citizen and Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf, Kaur says that Milk and Honey “takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere if you are just willing to look”. “We have sold over half a million copies and are currently in our 16th printing.” Melville added that on average, a strong-selling poetry book would sell less than 30,000 copies a year. “We thought it would sell well, but the momentum of sales that took off in March this year was very exciting, especially when the book hit the New York Times bestseller list,” said publisher and president Kirsty Melville. It went on to top charts in North America and was snapped up by Andrews McMeel Publishing, which released its own edition in October that year. Known as an Instapoet for the traction she gains online with her poetry that deals with violence, abuse and femininity, the collection was first self-published almost two years ago, in November 2014.

Rupi kaur milk and honey poems