Poet Rupi Kaur: 10 Years of 'Milk and Honey'

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Lemonada Media

Society & Culture, Film Interviews, Tv & Film

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2024

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today, in honor of National Poetry Month, we’re returning to our conversation with Rupi Kaur. Her debut collection, milk and honey, turns 10 this year.

At the top of our conversation, Kaur reflects on her international tour (4:44), her childhood in Canada (13:05), how she processes trauma through writing (22:13), her college photo series on menstruation that went viral (23:33), and the self-published poetry collection (milk and honey) that followed (29:20). In the aftermath of this unexpected attention, Rupi speaks candidly on the emotional toll of the last decade (30:43) and how she reckons with her critics today (32:35), before reading a poem written in response to their harassment (41:09).

On the back-half, Rupi describes her powerful connection to her heritage (42:41), understanding her mother’s sacrifices (43:15), which she recounts in Broken English (45:52), and the ways in which her work has evolved (54:08). To close, she performs two personal pieces from home body (56:17) and shares why she’s ready to get back on the stage, doing what she loves to do (58:43).

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Alex Schwartz. I'm Nomi Fry. I'm Vincent Cunningham and this is Critics at Large, a New Yorker
0:06.8	podcast for the culturally curious. Each week we're going to talk about a big idea that's showing
0:11.4	up across the cultural landscape and we'll trace it
0:13.8	through all the mediums we love books movies television music art and I always want to
0:18.6	talk about celebrity gossip too of course we hope you'll join us for new episodes each Thursday.
0:24.4	Follow critics at large, today, wherever you get podcasts. Pushkin. This is talk easy. I'm San Frigoso. Welcome to the show. Today in honor of National Poetry Month, we're returning to our conversation with
1:17.4	Rupi Kaur.
1:18.8	She's the author of four poetry collections, including Milk and Honey, the sun and her flowers, home body
1:25.6	and healing through words. Collectively those books have sold over 12 million
1:31.6	copies.
1:33.0	That's not a typo, and have been translated
1:35.4	into over 40 languages.
1:37.7	Her debut collection, Milk and Honey,
1:40.1	which she actually self-published as a student in college
1:43.4	has become one of the highest selling poetry books of the 21st century.
1:47.4	Again, not a typo.
1:49.4	That debut arrived a decade ago now and to celebrate its anniversary this year,
1:55.1	KORE will be re-reelacing the book on October 1st.
1:58.8	This special edition also includes a new chapter, an archive of original photos, and a whole bunch of
2:05.8	diary entries that she's excavated from these past 10 years. To pre-order the book
2:11.4	and to learn more about Rupi and her work, be sure to visit our shownotes at
2:15.7	Talk EasyPod.com.
	...

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