Rupinder Kaur Waraich (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Birmingham working across poetry, prose, and performance. Her practice often explores the linguistic intersections of the body, history, sexuality through a feminine narrative and gaze.
Her debut poetry collection, Rooh (2018), was published by Verve Poetry Press. Her second collection, Tigress with Wings(February 2026), is published by Seren Books. Her poems and essays have appeared in a range of journals and magazines, including Wasafiri, 14 Poems, and Poetry Wales. She has also contributed an essay on the Panjabi poet Amrita Pritam, published by Routledge India as part of their Writer Provocateur series.
As a BBC New Creative, Waraich produced The Girls That Hide and Seek, a spoken word piece addressing gendered violence. She has twice been awarded Develop Your Creative Practice (DYCP) funding to support the development of her artistic work. Alongside her creative practice, she facilitates poetry and drama workshops in schools and community settings.
Waraich co-wrote, co-directed, and performed in the theatre production Jugni, which explored South Asian and Black female experiences across time. She was co-writer and lead artist for A Thousand Threads with Women & Theatre, and associate dramaturg for Flex, a musical play for young audiences with Cloud Cuckoo Land. As part of Kali Theatre’s Discovery programme (2021–2022), she developed a short play exploring the relationship between a sister and her autistic brother.
Her one-woman show, Imperfect, Perfect Woman, premiered at the Wolverhampton Literature Festival. She was co-writer of the short film Inhale, Exhale for the Birmingham 2022 Festival, directed by Jaskirt Boora, and co-wrote and acted in The Two Artists, which premiered at the UK Asian Film Festival in 2023. She has also written and co-directed educational films on sexual health for Trade Sexual Health. Her latest film project, The Last Trilogy, is currently in post-production, which she wrote and directed.
Rupinder’s participation in India–UK Creative Industries at 75 enabled her to integrate poetry, music, and film through a Sufi lens, influencing her poetry-dance film The Search which explores queerness created with Tara Theatre’s Artists Make Space (2022). As a movement artist and yoga teacher she is curious about the body’s natural rhythms and reactions as seen her abstract short, Meeting Kali. Her work has taken her to international residencies including JOYA: arte + ecología (Spain), Art House (Netherlands), and Preet Nagar (Panjab). She is currently developing a full-length play about two Panjabi princesses. At the core of her practice is an ongoing exploration of the artistic self as both vessel and reclamation, driven by curiosity and dedication.
To contact, chat and commission email Rupinder – rupinderkw9@gmail.com
Blogs at – https://medium.com/@rupinder-kw / https://rupinderkaurwaraich.substack.com
Acting work – https://app.spotlight.com/7655-7836-7952
Rupinderkw 