Rupi Kaur, born 1992, is an Indian-Canadian poet, writer, illustrator, and performer. Throughout high school, she anonymously shared her writing, and in 2013 she began sharing her work under her own name on Tumblr. Kaur took her writing to Instagram in 2014 and began adding simple illustrations. All of her work is written exclusively in lowercase, and the only punctuation used is the period. In the Gurmukhi script, there is only one case and only periods are used. She decided to write this way to honour her culture. She also says that she enjoys the equality of letters and that the style reflects her worldview. Her written work is meant to be an experience that's easy to follow for the reader, with simple drawings to elevate her words. Common themes found throughout her works include abuse, femininity, love, and heartbreak. Kaur's first book, an anthology titled Milk and Honey (stylized as milk and honey), was published on November 4th, 2014. A collection of poetry, prose, and hand-drawn illustrations, the book is split into four chapters, and each chapter deals with a different theme. Book sales of milk and honey surpassed the 2.5 million copy mark. The book was on The New York Times Best Seller list for over 77 weeks.
