“My favourite character in fiction was probably either James from 'James and the Giant Peach' or Ender from 'Ender's Game.' They were just ordinary people who were living under various amounts of struggle, and just to follow their journeys and see them break out of that and live extraordinary lives - I think that gave me a lot of hope as a kid.”

Indian-Canadian poet, illustrator, photographer, and author

Rupi Kaur is an Indian-Canadian poet, illustrator, photographer, and author. Born in Punjab, India, she moved to Canada with her family when she was young. She is known for her poetry and for the public presence that helped make her work widely read. She began performing poetry in 2009 and later gained attention through Instagram before becoming widely known for three poetry collections. Her work is often associated with spoken performance and the digital platform that first expanded her audience.