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Hi, my name is Zahra Khozema and I'm here on behalf of RU Student Life
celebrating International Women's Day Day at the Ryerson Sociology Union.
Today we're going to be speaking to Rupi Kaur, a Toronto-based artist and poet,
Rupi talks about issues of women's struggles in society, and today we finally get to speak to her.
Let's see what she has to say.
Hi Rupi, how are you?
Good how are you?
I'm well, thank you.
Because we're here to celebrate all women on International Women's Day,
why do you think it's important to recognize women from diverse cultural settings and backgrounds?
First I want to start off by saying that my feminism is very intersectional.
The reason that I think it's important to celebrate women from diverse and different backgrounds is
I grew up having a passion, writing, where I wasn't really well represented.
So all the poets that I read, and all the authors, the majority of them that I read, they didn't look like me.
And, finding a space for myself was very difficult.
And so because - and everything that I was reading wasn't telling my story, that's why I started to write.
And so, even the struggle of finding a publisher,
no one wanted to publish the story of a woman of colour, who was an immigrant, from India.
And so that struggle and getting my work out there really helped me understand why it was so important.
Your book, Milk and Honey, deals a lot with the subject matter of femininity, but would you say it's only for women?
Have you gotten any male responses? If so, how were they?
I wouldn't say that Milk and Honey is only for women,
the majority of the readers are women,
and I think it's because, I mean, I'm speaking from a woman's experience,
and naturally women are going to be drawn to that.
But there's lots of male readers.
And I remember the Huffington Post wrote an article once, talking about -
The headline was: "Rupi Kaur: the one poet that every woman needs to read."
And there were a bunch of men underneath that, that commented, like,
"No, she's somebody that everyone needs to read."
And they always respond very lovingly,
I mean, I get super excited when there's men in the audience, and they'll always come up to me at signings and be like,
"Wow, you've turned be into a better man, you've helped me see how the women, the sister, the girlfriends around me, how they feel and how they experience life.
At such a young age, you're an author, you're a poet, you're a spoken word artist - but what would you say is the title that most resonates with you?
I feel like that's the thing - I don't occupy one space.
But the one thing, I really feel that my experiences as a woman have brought me and led me to fall into all of those categories
So that would be the title that I want to go with.
'Cause it's my experiences as a woman that's led me to become all of those things.
So, Rupi, who is your ultimate female role model and why?
Maya Angelou for her writing.
I'm recently reading a book on Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she's crazy killer.
And, of course, my mom.
Alright Rupi, so we're going to play a little game, you can tell me whatever comes right to your mind right after.
You ready?
Ready!
Beyoncé.
Queen. So typical!
Malala.
Nobel Peace Prize.
Mother.
I - a word doesn't come to my mind I just see my mom's face.
Feminism.
Intersectional.
Women.
Us.
Toronto.
Drake!
Ryerson University.
Hmmm... Fun.
What's your advice for all the female writers here watching at Ryerson?
I have one thing to say, I want to say happy International Women's Day,
And,
I want to say that I would not have gotten here if it weren't for the sisters and the women around me.
So support each other, love each other, because it takes a group of people to move a mountain.