At only 23, young Canadian writer Rupi Kaur has already found great success with her first publication of poems “Milk and Honey.” The book instantly found its way to the New York Times bestseller list and from there became a sensation for young readers like me. If you haven’t read her book yet, then what are you doing with your life? Kaur will no doubt go down in history as one of the greatest poets and here is why.

1. Not only is she an amazing writer, but also a talented artist

If Kaur’s eloquently written poems do not intrigue you enough you should also know that she draws as well! She has been drawing since the age of 5 but as she got older her love for writing began to take over. She took her love for drawing and illustrated her own book with sketches.

2. She is proud of her heritage

Kaur is definitely not shy to talk about her love for her family and their journey from India. She is very in tune with both her roots and the place she grew up. On her social media you will see her writing poems on her experience growing up as an Indian girl in Canada. She also spent two month in India exploring and getting back to her roots. Her love for where she comes from is surely a trait we can all learn from.

3. She is not afraid to write about "not so pretty" things

Let’s be honest, reading about things like beauty standards, rape and racism are not very uplifting but nonetheless are still major topics that should be addressed. And that is exactly what Kaur does in her writing. She fearlessly tackles problems head on with her writing, not daring to stop at anything.

4. She is a self published writer

If you do not understand what “self published” means, it basically means instead of trying to find a company that would print her book for her, she just did it herself (pretty badass, right?). She was told by literary professors that it would be too hard to have her worked published because poetry almost never gets published. So, Kaur took it upon herself to publish her book using Amazon’s createspace platform, giving her full control over literary and artistic decisions made about her book. After its initial release the book eventually got picked up by a publishing company and was re-released.

5. She has reasons behind every aspect of her poetry

Things like the use of only lowercase letters in her poetry may not strike many as a big deal but, of course she has her reasons for such a choice. The written form of Punjabi (her first language) contains no uppercase or lowercase letters. All the letters are treated the same and she has chosen to incorporate that into a part of her writing.

6. She is a feminist

Let's be real, many people are scared to admit they are feminists. A stigma exists that the word “feminist” means something negative and bad, but Rupi shows both men and women there is nothing wrong with being a feminist. As a woman she stands up for other women and the way they are treated by society (how can you not love her?). One of her photos went viral when she fought a battle with Instagram, which deleted a photo of a girl asleep and visibly menstruating. Finally winning, she posted the greatest response (check it out above).

If you haven’t read or bought Rupi Kaur’s book “milk and honey,” you should! Click here