Rupi Kaur's collection of poems, “milk and honey,” became a literary phenomenon when it was published 10 years ago and spent 165 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. The author appeared on Marie Claire's “Nice Talk” podcast to reveal that she took the plunge and self-published the book. Kaur explained on the podcast that when she was still in college and first thinking about publishing Milk and Honey, she sought advice from one of her creative writing professors. However, that professor “stopped me in the middle of my thinking.” [She continues. 'Oh, I'm sorry to tell you, but no one publishes poetry, and most of the poetry that does get published is by dead people.'

According to Kaur, she began to consider self-publishing her work, but was similarly discouraged by her professor. She said, 'Look, the moment you self-publish, nobody, the industry, will respect you anymore. 'I'm a brown girl from Brampton. I'm a brown girl from Brampton. So not self-publishing is the best advice I've ever received."

When the book was published, it quickly gained a cult readership thanks to Kaur's followers on Tumblr and Instagram; less than a year later, the book was re-released by Andrews McMeel Publishing. And now, to celebrate its 10th anniversary, Kaur is releasing a special commemorative collector's edition.

Since her entry into the poetry scene, Kaur says she feels there has been a “change” in the publishing industry, especially when it comes to poetry, in that women and writers of color are now better represented. 'They've been forced to look at us,' she said. And they've been made to understand that audiences and readers are hungry for works like ours.”

Kaur also recalled on “Nice Talk” how she began to struggle creatively amidst the whirlwind success, explaining that she felt “riddled with anxiety” while working on her second book, 2017's The Sun and Her Flowers.

“I completely, totally believed I had lost my touch and whatever magic there was,” she recalled.

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Kaur said that she convinced herself that she “could never” experience the same creative flow that she did when she was writing “milk and honey” in her teens and early twenties, but she “persevered anyway” because of her passion for this work. She later also released “home body” in 2020.

“The silver lining is that I'm back in a state of flow, which is really exciting,” she adds. And she adds, “It's really exciting. Thank you for arriving. And you may decide to leave, and that's fine.”

On this week's “Nice Talk,” Kaur opens up more about her experience as a published poet, from what she has to say about the people she writes about to navigating financial uncertainty in her career. This episode is available to podcast listeners everywhere.