Kelly Kaur, Poet & Author

Kelly Kaur is a writer, author, speaker, and educator. She was awarded the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award in 2024, the 2025 Calgary South Asian Inspiration Award in Outstanding Arts and Culture, nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and won Honourable Mention in the International Human Rights Art Movement in New York.

Kaur’s poem, “A Singaporean’s Love Affair,” landed on the moon in 2024, the first historic library and an Artemis Accords Heritage Site. Her novel, Letters to Singapore, will go up in 2026. She has a passion for human rights and is a creative writing instructor and Writer in Residence for the International Human Rights Art Movement, New York. Her children’s book, Howdy, I’m Singh Hari, was introduced to and celebrated at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton for honouring Punjabi Sikh culture and won the 2026 Alberta Book Publishing Award for the Children’s & Young Adult Book of the Year. Kaur has presented two TEDx talks. Her creative works have been danced to on stage, displayed on beer cans, presented at museums and art galleries, and placed on display outdoors at Leighton Art Centre. Her poetry collection, My Love is a Durian, will be out in October 2026 and has been named CBC Books’ “25 Canadian poetry titles we’re excited to read this fall.”