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Is Rupi Kaur’s ‘Writer of the Decade’ Win a Loss for Poetry?

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When Instagram famous poet Rupi Kaur was recently declared the “Writer of the Decade” by The New Republic, many debated the validity of this designation because Kaur’s success can be mainly accredited to her popularity with young women on social media. This begs the question: is being popular on social media a real indication of true talent?

Kaur hasn’t been hailed in the traditional literary community because of the way her work became popular. The 27-year-old from Brampton, Ontario, has loyal fans who are quick to defend her work.

Her books “Milk and Honey” and “The Sun and Her Flowers”  have sold millions of copies, but that is not why she was named Writer of the Decade. New Republic looked at just how her readers connect with her, and how she uses social media as a means to consume poetic content.  She calls her poetry “easy and simple,” often writing the text in all lowercase.

Her authenticity may endear millions but it also draws critics as it relates to her creative form of expression — poetry. Some are upset about Kaur’s notoriety and believe that using social media to sell literary work diminishes the quality of that work.

The argument here is that Kaur’s work is not revolutionary and is only popular because of young people reading it through social media. Thus offending other poets who achieved less with objectively greater works. At the same time, the argument can also be made that social media creates a way for young people to find more accessible literary works as more people on Twitter stated.

So, what’s the answer here? Is social media the future of the literary community, or does it devalue the work of new authors trying to make it?

At this time, Kaur has not commented on the award but has posted about what 2019 meant to her.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6yZUcgBA1k/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6rE6eCBaHq/

Katiee is a writer from Atlanta, GA, who runs her own blog called Life Starts With Coffee. She is a concert junkie, and has a pet rabbit named Florence. You can find her on Instagram at @rosecafletic.

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