AN 'OUR SHARED SHELF' INTERVIEW WITH RUPI KAUR

Rupi Kaur // Source: RupiKaur.com

Emma Watson // Photography by Mariano Vivanco

I woke up this morning to find two women whom I greatly respect and admire had met up and had a chat about the power and importance of poetry, feminism, vulnerability and self love. Their conversation is empowering and encouraging, illuminating and interesting. For her intersectional bi-monthly book club, Our Shared Shelf, Emma Watson chose Rupi Kaur's poetry and prose collection 'Milk and Honey' (published in 2014) as this summer's book to read and has now shared an interview she did with Rupi Kaur discussing the book and so much more.

I cannot remember when exactly I read Milk and Honey (according to my bookdepository order history, I purchased it in March last year so I guess round about then?) but I do remember my first encounter with its author. I had heard her name float around the interwebs but it was not until I watched her Tedx Talk, 'I'm Taking My Body', that I went out of my way to know more about her, her writing and her simple but loud illustrations. The story she told was one of a deep revelation of self-worth with a backdrop of sexual assault. It was both mesmerising and uncomfortable to watch. And I wondered how she could turn something so horrific into something emboldening. Needless to say, scrolling through her instagram account and reading as many of her posts as I could became a much enjoyed pastime.

Photographer: Prabh Kaur & Rupi Kaur // Source: Rupi Kaur

I've said before, poetry isn't something I am a major fan of...yet. Had someone asked me back then what her posts were, I would have said they are simply truths drenched with emotions written beautifully and unapologetically. I would not have called them poems which meant my definition of poetry was in need of a serious update. With each poem I found myself revisiting old ideas of what was right and shameful. Take the photo above for example. This is part of a photo series called 'Period' Rupi Kaur did for visual rhetoric course in her final year at university challenging a taboo. And sometimes I wonder if people like Rupi and Emma were not willing to continually push their fears aside to share their opinions and art and work with the world as they do, how else will we encounter perspective-altering moments which could lead to us to being more educated and less burdened. 

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P.S. you could be that person too...