Rupi Kaur has vision beyond her years.At 24, the Indian-Canadian artist and poet decided to create a menstruation-themed photo series for a college project. She posted one now-famous photograph to Instagram, showing herself lying on a bed facing the wall, period blood staining her sweatpants and the bedsheet. Instagram repeatedly took down the photo from Kaurs account, but the image went viral, attracting international attention. Though still a college student, she was something of an Instagram star already, thanks to her luminous and striking poetry, which she posted on the account.She told HuffPost at the time that she was galvanized in part by the stigma attached to menstruation ' an aspect of her project unwittingly reinforced by Instagrams removal of the photo. I always see women complainingIm one of themabout how much our periods suck, she said. But theyre also so beautiful. They give rise to life.Less than two years later, a publishing house put out Kaurs book of prose and poetry, Milk and Honey(originally self-published in 2014), and it began dominating best-seller charts. The text and illustrations ' both by Kaur 'examine the emotional states of a modern young woman.Her work is simply but powerfully expressed, and viscerally captures both universal human experience and the particular struggles of a young woman today.Kaurs art has meant opening a window into her mind and bodily experiences for audiences, whether through candid poetry or realistic (though staged, with fake blood) period portraits. Another intimate revelation ' whats on her bookshelf. The brilliant artist and writer shared her 47 picks with The Strand, where she curated a bookshelf.For those who arent in New York City, heres an alternative to browsing her hand-picked display.Check out Kaurs bookshelf below.1. 1984 by George OrwellFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.2. A Fine Balance by Rohinton MistryFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.3. A Room of Ones OwnandThree Guineas by Virginia WoolfFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.4. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled HosseiniFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.5. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.6. Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi CoatesFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.7. Charlottes Web by E.B. WhiteFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.8. Enders Game by Orson Scott CardFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.9. Feminist Theory by bell hooksFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone by J.K. RowlingFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.11. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya AngelouFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.12. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa LahiriFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.13. James and the Giant Peach by Roald DahlFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.14. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garca MrquezFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.15. Matilda by Roald DahlFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.16. Maus by Art SpiegelmanFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.17. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur GoldenFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.18. Midnights Children by Salman RushdieFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.19. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick DouglassFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.20. No Logo by Naomi KleinFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.21. Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon & Shana KnizhnikFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.22. Odes by Sharon OldsFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.23. Oh, The Places Youll Go! by Dr. SeussFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.24. Pride & Prejudice by Jane AustenFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.25. The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X (as told to Alex Haley)Find on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.26. The Bluest Eye by Toni MorrisonFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.27. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot DazFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.28. The Butterflys Burden by Mahmoud DarwishFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.29. The Chrysalids by John WyndhamFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.30. The Color Purple by Alice WalkerFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.31. The Complete Poems by Anne SextonFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.32. The God of Small Things by Arundhati RoyFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.33. The Good Earth by Pearl S. BuckFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.34. The Joy Luck Club by Amy TanFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.35. The Kite Runner by Khaled HosseiniFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.36. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. LewisFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.37. TheLovely Bones by Alice SeboldFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.38. The Namesake by Jhumpa LahiriFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.39. The Prophet by Kahlil GibranFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.40. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz FanonFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.41. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan DidionFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.42. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale HurstonFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.43. This Is How You Lose Her by Junot DazFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.44. Wayside School Is Falling Down by Louis SacharFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.45. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel SilversteinFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.46. White Teeth by Zadie SmithFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore.47. Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola EstsFind on Amazon or at your local indie bookstore. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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