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It's strange to hear the poet Rupi Kaur sounding so uneasy about Instagram and Twitter, because her success has been driven by it. “I never open my direct messages,” says the 24-year-old Canadian, whose vulnerable, short but shareable verses about love, trauma, feminism and abuse have captured an audience of 1.2 million Instagram and 124,000 on Twitter since she began posting them. “I can read 2,000 comments about how great I am, but if I read one comment saying I’m ugly I’ll cry for a week.”

The internet-fired sensation, whose first collection Milk & Honey sold more than a million copies worldwide and reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list, knows the medium better than many.

Her rise began in 2015 when she fought Instagram’s removal of a photo she posted showing menstrual blood — part of a university project on taboo. “There’s such a negative dialogue there about periods, and I was so tired of cursing and hating myself for it,” she says. “I knew people would be uncomfortable, but I didn’t think there’d be such a wild reaction to it.”

After Kaur wrote about the censorship on Facebook there was an online backlash — including death threats — and Instagram eventually lifted the ban.

​Kaur, her photography and her poetry, went viral. Milk & Honey, self-published in 2014, was bought by US publisher Andrews McMeel and reissued in October 2015. Kaur was 23 and caught the imagination of a large, atypical poetry audience of young readers, much like her contemporary Warsan Shire, whose work featured on Beyoncé’s Lemonade. “We think poetry is old and dead, and then all of a sudden we’re creating something for us,” says Kaur. “When you read it, it kicks you in the stomach and makes you feel so seen.”

With a new collection out later this year, Kaur’s easy posture, sitting on a sofa in her Toronto home, belies the weight on her shoulders. “I honestly didn’t think that I’d be able to write another book,” she says. The pressure of following up on huge sales and supporting “myself, my family, my team, and so many other people” was debilitating. “I told my agent I thought I had lost it — I think it was a one-time thing. She told me to cut myself some slack.”

Kaur is determined not to be a one-hit wonder. After a three-month writing trip to California she returned with the new collection. “Each poem is a part of a body: a finger, a nail,” she says. “They stand on their own but together it’s all one body. That’s why the structure is important.”

The collection has a cover (she designed it herself, along with the illustrations) and a title but she’s not sharing them with anyone before her fans on social media see them. “They’re the ones who got me here. It’s like my readers have been the ones sleeping over, and they know all my secrets, right?”

After she moved from India to Canada with her family when she was three to escape the persecution of Sikhs, adjusting to life in the West was hard for Kaur. Although she now has a Canadian accent she didn’t learn English until the age of 10, and only made friends at 11. “My dad was making a couple of hundred dollars a month as a truck driver and there was just not enough money.” She lived with her parents and three younger siblings in a one-bedroom basement flat, where they slept in the same bed. “I went from a very warm place in India that was full of love, where you had the attention of dozens of people all the time, to a place that was cold, rigid and where you couldn’t understand anything.”

Her poetry, which she also performs, was not instantly well-loved. “People thought it was too much and raw. It’s not easy to digest. But I was like, I don’t really care. And now the same people who said that come to the show, and they tell me I still make them uncomfortable, but they support it now.”

Arts picks of the week: 1st-7th May 5 show all Arts picks of the week: 1st-7th May 1/5 Angels in America



Until August 19, National Theatre; It’s here! 2017’s hottest ticket officially opens this week, starring Andrew Garfield, Russell Tovey and Denise Gough. The run is sold out but the critics have yet to give their verdict. Either way, expect an epic experience from the National Theatre’s revival. Read what the original National company said about starring in the play twenty-five years ago.Until August 19, National Theatre; nationaltheatre.org.uk Helen Maybanks 2/5 The Ferryman



Until May 20, Royal Court; Hot on the heels of the epic Angels is Jez Butterworth’s eagerly anticipated major follow-up to Jerusaleum. Early reaction on Twitter suggests the playwright may be about to repeat his success, with a play set in Derry during the Troubles starring Paddy Considine.Until May 20, Royal Court; royalcourttheatre.com Rex Features 3/5 Turner Prize shortlist is announced Keep your peepers peeled for the announcement of the Turner Prize shortlist this Wednesday (May 3), which was won last year by Helen Marten. It’s the UK’s biggest art prize and has previously been won by Damien Hirst, Gillian Wearing and Steve McQueen to name but a few, so it’s a game-changing endorsement even to make the shortlist. This year’s exhibition will take place in Hull as part of the City of Culture celebrations. PA 4/5 Oh Yes Oh No



Until May 11, Camden People’s Theatre; Performer Louise Orwin’s show is the centrepiece for Camden People’s Theatre’s festival of sex (well, that means performance about sex. Not an actual sex festival). It promises to explore the disconnect between sexual fantasies and political principles, and the show includes a terrible Radiohead cover. Not a sentence you hear often.Until May 11, Camden People’s Theatre; cptheatre.co.uk 5/5 Belief and Beyond Belief



May 6-7, Southbank Centre; The Southbank Centre will be a hub of thought and debate this weekend as part of their Belief and Beyond Belief festival. The theme will be: ‘how has religion shaped society?’ and will include discussions on faith and fashion and terrorism and society.May 6-7, Southbank Centre; southbankcentre.co.uk 1/5 Angels in America



Until August 19, National Theatre; It’s here! 2017’s hottest ticket officially opens this week, starring Andrew Garfield, Russell Tovey and Denise Gough. The run is sold out but the critics have yet to give their verdict. Either way, expect an epic experience from the National Theatre’s revival. Read what the original National company said about starring in the play twenty-five years ago.Until August 19, National Theatre; nationaltheatre.org.uk Helen Maybanks 2/5 The Ferryman



Until May 20, Royal Court; Hot on the heels of the epic Angels is Jez Butterworth’s eagerly anticipated major follow-up to Jerusaleum. Early reaction on Twitter suggests the playwright may be about to repeat his success, with a play set in Derry during the Troubles starring Paddy Considine.Until May 20, Royal Court; royalcourttheatre.com Rex Features 3/5 Turner Prize shortlist is announced Keep your peepers peeled for the announcement of the Turner Prize shortlist this Wednesday (May 3), which was won last year by Helen Marten. It’s the UK’s biggest art prize and has previously been won by Damien Hirst, Gillian Wearing and Steve McQueen to name but a few, so it’s a game-changing endorsement even to make the shortlist. This year’s exhibition will take place in Hull as part of the City of Culture celebrations. PA 4/5 Oh Yes Oh No



Until May 11, Camden People’s Theatre; Performer Louise Orwin’s show is the centrepiece for Camden People’s Theatre’s festival of sex (well, that means performance about sex. Not an actual sex festival). It promises to explore the disconnect between sexual fantasies and political principles, and the show includes a terrible Radiohead cover. Not a sentence you hear often.Until May 11, Camden People’s Theatre; cptheatre.co.uk 5/5 Belief and Beyond Belief



May 6-7, Southbank Centre; The Southbank Centre will be a hub of thought and debate this weekend as part of their Belief and Beyond Belief festival. The theme will be: ‘how has religion shaped society?’ and will include discussions on faith and fashion and terrorism and society.May 6-7, Southbank Centre; southbankcentre.co.uk

Her parents were the hardest to convince. “I have immigrant parents who have given up their health, physically, mentally and emotionally.”

Kaur, though, is of a different generation — and fights her own demons. “Social media has been such a big platform for my success. But it can also be a toxic place.” Beauty standards today, she says, “are just about followers and numbers” but the negative effect that can have on people is frightening. “They worry about their numbers all the time, asking: ‘How do I get my followers up?’ or are constantly looking at other people who they think are doing ‘better’ than themselves. I think that’s really, really, really unhealthy.”

Her own self-esteem is “an everyday battle”. She’s struggled even to look at herself in the mirror. “‘You’re beautiful’ was the compliment I craved so much. I didn’t care if people called me smart or innovative — it was the number-one compliment I gave out to other women hoping it was given back to me. I heard people saying it to my best friends. It was the one I wanted to hear more than anything else.”

Being in the spotlight hasn’t helped. “In the last years it’s been quite bad. I think all of a sudden there are so many photographs, and I’m meeting so many people. They’re all so beautiful, and I think: ‘Maybe I should do that to my face’, or put more make-up on.”

But Kaur knows the good her poetry does: it saves lives, judging by the letters her publisher reads to me over the phone. “Yesterday I was stopped on the street by a woman who said exactly that,” says Kaur, “that she’d found the book at the perfect time, when everything was falling apart.”

If her last book was about “holding a mirror up to myself” her second will be about “holding a mirror up to the world in general”. The world needs healing, she says. “Looking at my skin colour you would assume, visually, that if I were to vote I would vote Hillary Clinton. When the election results came out I was at Dubai airport and we were watching the results come in, and looking at the people there I couldn’t read them. They didn’t seem disappointed. It was just like: ‘What is happening?’”

The day Trump was inaugurated she was in San Diego and, on a friend’s advice, didn’t leave the apartment. “I’ve never been more aware of my colour,” she says. She has friends in California and in New York and many are undocumented. “I wanted to help, but it’s just such a helpless situation. The fear is the worst part. People are now just cooped up living in their houses because they think if they go outside they’ll be shipped back.”

Arts picks of the week: 1st-7th May 5 show all Arts picks of the week: 1st-7th May 1/5 Angels in America



Until August 19, National Theatre; It’s here! 2017’s hottest ticket officially opens this week, starring Andrew Garfield, Russell Tovey and Denise Gough. The run is sold out but the critics have yet to give their verdict. Either way, expect an epic experience from the National Theatre’s revival. Read what the original National company said about starring in the play twenty-five years ago.Until August 19, National Theatre; nationaltheatre.org.uk Helen Maybanks 2/5 The Ferryman



Until May 20, Royal Court; Hot on the heels of the epic Angels is Jez Butterworth’s eagerly anticipated major follow-up to Jerusaleum. Early reaction on Twitter suggests the playwright may be about to repeat his success, with a play set in Derry during the Troubles starring Paddy Considine.Until May 20, Royal Court; royalcourttheatre.com Rex Features 3/5 Turner Prize shortlist is announced Keep your peepers peeled for the announcement of the Turner Prize shortlist this Wednesday (May 3), which was won last year by Helen Marten. It’s the UK’s biggest art prize and has previously been won by Damien Hirst, Gillian Wearing and Steve McQueen to name but a few, so it’s a game-changing endorsement even to make the shortlist. This year’s exhibition will take place in Hull as part of the City of Culture celebrations. PA 4/5 Oh Yes Oh No



Until May 11, Camden People’s Theatre; Performer Louise Orwin’s show is the centrepiece for Camden People’s Theatre’s festival of sex (well, that means performance about sex. Not an actual sex festival). It promises to explore the disconnect between sexual fantasies and political principles, and the show includes a terrible Radiohead cover. Not a sentence you hear often.Until May 11, Camden People’s Theatre; cptheatre.co.uk 5/5 Belief and Beyond Belief



May 6-7, Southbank Centre; The Southbank Centre will be a hub of thought and debate this weekend as part of their Belief and Beyond Belief festival. The theme will be: ‘how has religion shaped society?’ and will include discussions on faith and fashion and terrorism and society.May 6-7, Southbank Centre; southbankcentre.co.uk 1/5 Angels in America



Until August 19, National Theatre; It’s here! 2017’s hottest ticket officially opens this week, starring Andrew Garfield, Russell Tovey and Denise Gough. The run is sold out but the critics have yet to give their verdict. Either way, expect an epic experience from the National Theatre’s revival. Read what the original National company said about starring in the play twenty-five years ago.Until August 19, National Theatre; nationaltheatre.org.uk Helen Maybanks 2/5 The Ferryman



Until May 20, Royal Court; Hot on the heels of the epic Angels is Jez Butterworth’s eagerly anticipated major follow-up to Jerusaleum. Early reaction on Twitter suggests the playwright may be about to repeat his success, with a play set in Derry during the Troubles starring Paddy Considine.Until May 20, Royal Court; royalcourttheatre.com Rex Features 3/5 Turner Prize shortlist is announced Keep your peepers peeled for the announcement of the Turner Prize shortlist this Wednesday (May 3), which was won last year by Helen Marten. It’s the UK’s biggest art prize and has previously been won by Damien Hirst, Gillian Wearing and Steve McQueen to name but a few, so it’s a game-changing endorsement even to make the shortlist. This year’s exhibition will take place in Hull as part of the City of Culture celebrations. PA 4/5 Oh Yes Oh No



Until May 11, Camden People’s Theatre; Performer Louise Orwin’s show is the centrepiece for Camden People’s Theatre’s festival of sex (well, that means performance about sex. Not an actual sex festival). It promises to explore the disconnect between sexual fantasies and political principles, and the show includes a terrible Radiohead cover. Not a sentence you hear often.Until May 11, Camden People’s Theatre; cptheatre.co.uk 5/5 Belief and Beyond Belief



May 6-7, Southbank Centre; The Southbank Centre will be a hub of thought and debate this weekend as part of their Belief and Beyond Belief festival. The theme will be: ‘how has religion shaped society?’ and will include discussions on faith and fashion and terrorism and society.May 6-7, Southbank Centre; southbankcentre.co.uk

The catch-all term of Generation Snowflake is one she takes issue with. “I grew up thinking I was going to change the world, but not because I was treated like a special snowflake. It’s a silly label. People are starving. We need to feed them. That’s the end of the conversation.”

How does she want the world to have changed by the time she has kids of her own? “Just in to a better one. There’s so much up in the air, but as long as it’s better. When things get better, there’s a swing to the pendulum where things get worse for others. But I hope they’re writing about different topics — because I hope by that time we’ll maybe have worked through the ones I write about.”

An Evening with Rupi Kaur is at St James’s Church, W1 on May 13; waterstones.com