July 01, 2018

Emma Watson picks Rupi Kaur's 'Milk and Honey' for Our Shared Shelf




Dear OSS Members, 
I am excited to announce that July/August's pick for Our Shared Shelf is our first poet, Rupi Kaur, and her book of poems Milk and Honey. Rupi Kaur is an Indian-born, Canadian-raised poet and artist. She chooses not to use upper case letters or punctuation in her poems as an ode to her native language, Punjabi. She travels the world, including recently to her native country India, performing her poems and drawing crowds of hundreds. Both of her books, Milk and Honey and The Sun and Her Flowers, have made the New York Times bestseller list, which for a poet, is astonishing.

Over my lifetime, I have fallen in and out of love with poetry. Performing poems was what got me into acting (I had a primary school teacher that made everyone learn one a week, and eventually I won a poetry recital competition!) In secondary school and at university, I loved deciphering the codes of poems in class discussion, but I honestly wondered if poetry would continue to feature in my life outside of an academic context.

Enter poets like Hollie McNish, Sabrina Mahfouz and Rupi Kaur- I demolished whole books in single sittings. Unlike poems I have often spent weeks unraveling, Rupi’s poems are not designed to obscure meaning or entertain too much ambiguity - they hit you like punches to the stomach. They are immediate, visceral and not easily digested. I am loathe to say Rupi has made poetry “accessible” because while this is the truth (Rupi’s poems and illustrations fit well into those famously square shaped Instagram frames), there is nothing easy or accessible about what Rupi chooses to talk about. In fact, the topics she chooses, are audacious.

Here is a 25-year-old girl saying the unsayable… to hundreds of thousands of people:
that she has been raped, that at times she has been abused, that she bleeds. And sin of all sins… she actually likes the hair that grows on her body. Yes. She actually thinks it is beautiful. And that she is beautiful as God made her - what a transgression. That her body is her home and nobody else's.

The last chapter of Rupi’s book is called ‘The healing’. I am astounded to think what grew in the garden of her heartbreak. Her sharing, leadership and representation is so generous and brave. I will be forever grateful that she took subjects, that as a woman, I still carry shame about, and made them art. It took me an extra step forward and gave me new language.

All my love,
Emma

Don't forget, Emma is meant to film an interview with Reni Eddo-Lodge this month.

22 comments:

Sam said...

Me encanta leer lo que Emma escribe o dice siempre es entretenido y educativo.

Thaïs said...

Very beautiful writing and introduction. Makes me want to read yhe book!

Anonymous said...

Zzzzzzz wake me up when she doesn't something interesting. God she is lazy. This is what it's come to Emma?

Sundas said...

Or you could stay up and learn proper English lmao.

Anonymous said...

Or you could learn to punctuate?

L
M
F
A
O
!

:D

Anonymous said...

There was nothing wrong in his puctuation lol. You haters are laughable

Anonymous said...

oh hi Sundas

these stans are sad

Anonymous said...

EMMA HAS RETIRED? FML.

Anonymous said...

"EMMA HAS RETIRED? FML."
what? where have you heard it?

Sundas said...

Actually , tbh it should have been "is that what it has come to, Emma?" So yeah his punctuation wasn't all ok either. Also the stans are sad sounds really stupid please stop doing this to yourself :(

Anonymous said...

"Also the stans are sad sounds really stupid please stop doing this to yourself :("

usssoundssooodementedlolz

Anonymous said...

Milk & Honey / Cows & Beers

Anonymous said...

I think Emma is afraid of failing, she is afraid of how people will criticize her acting. She doesn't want to give flops and be reduced to a b level actress. Unlike Rupert and dan she doesn't want to do low profile stuff. She would rather not do anything then be reduced in her status as an actress. These are the reasons I feel Emma is not doing any work.

Anonymous said...

she loves fame and desperate to hold on to it with such a lack of talent compared to the other two. i love how dan and rupert are purposely under the radar yet doing really interesting stuff!

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Dan, recently saw him in "Jungle" and he was amazing. Probably his best performance for me as an actor. Good flick too.

CK said...

If she really loves fame that much she would have appeared in the public more often. No acting but she could do modelling or simply be active in the social media. But the fact is that she doesn’t do so. I don’t think people love fame would act like her, act like they’re retired.

Anonymous said...

well this whole pr thing with her latest bf could be her moving into such celebrity. lets hope not.

Anonymous said...

Didn't some literary agency call her their client on twitter a while back? Maybe that's going to be her new thing now? She does write well.

Or maybe she just wants to do nothing but occasional activism and cringey pr photos with Chord.

It definitely seems like she's done with acting and we've just been slow to take the hint. I don't expect she'll ever announce it either.

Anonymous said...

I just saw the trailer for the next Yorgos Lanthimos film with Emma Stone. It's actually laughable are far above Stone is that her in terms of career and credibility. LOL Emma could never hope in a million years to star in a movie like that, hell if she will ever star in another movie ahah

Anonymous said...

Any new sighting of Emma? Is she still in London? The lack of news is driving me crazy!

Anonymous said...

I don't think she was recently in London. She just sent "her love" to those who were marching in the Parade.

andrew said...

Oof Emma. Just say you are completely retired for god's sake