45: Kirun Kapur on the Power of Poetry

Today I’m very pleased to introduce Kirun Kapur. Kirun is a poet whose first book, “Visiting Indira Gandhi's Palmist”, was awarded the 2013 Antivenom Poetry Award and was published in January 2015 by Elixir Press.

In addition to writing poetry, Kirun also teaches poetry and creative writing at Brandeis University in Boston. Kirun is the Poetry Editor for The Drum Literary Magazine, which publishes short fiction, poetry, and essays exclusively in audio form. Last year, NBC News named her to their list of Asian-American Poets to Watch.

Several themes run through Kirun’s collection of poetry, including the partition of India in 1947 and the mass migration of people between India and the newly-created Pakistan. She also touches on themes around family that are featured in the book of Genesis in the Bible. 

In our conversation, Kirun talks about how she approaches the reading, writing, and teaching of poetry. She explains how to tell a story through poetry, and how to create music through a poem. 

Kirun also explains what writers writing in any form including nonfiction can learn from the craft of poetry. 

Near the end of our conversation, Kirun reads two poems from her book, which I know you’ll enjoy. 

You can find the show notes to this episode over at writewithimpact.com/episode45. There you’ll find a link to Kirun’s book on Amazon, as well as a link to her website.