This tender and laugh-out-loud collection weaves a poetic narrative of transformation – from girl to woman. The poems read like a long phone call – to your younger self, your mother and your artist-godmothers – following a girl as she learns to live in her body, claim her voice and awaken her own power. Intimately woven with the poet’s Panjabi heritage, Tigress with Wings is a celebration of feminine strength, creativity and survival in which the fierce, mythical tigress becomes an empowering emblem for adulthood.
Rupinder will be joined by four guest poets Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal, Jay Mitta, Shagufta Iqbal and Prenana Kumar.
The author:
Rupinder Kaur Waraich
Rupinder Kaur Waraich (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist based in the West Midlands, whose work spans poetry, writing and performance. Her work often looks at the linguistic intersection of the body, history, sexuality and spirituality through the feminine narrative and gaze. Rupinder’s debut poetry collection, Rooh (2018), was published by Verve Poetry Press. Second collection Tigress with Wings (February, 2026) published by Seren Books. Rupinder continues to explore and create at the intersection of writing, film, and theatre. At the core of her practice is an ongoing exploration of the artistic self as both vessel and reclamation driven by curiosity and dedication.
The guests
Prerana Kumar
Prerana Kumar is an Indian writer and editor based in London. They are currently reading for a funded doctorate in Creative Writing at QMUL. A winner of the 2022 Rebecca Swift Foundation's Women Poets’ Prize, their debut pamphlet, Ixora is out with Guillemot Press. Their work appears in Magma, The White Review, The Poetry Review, Prototype, and Wasafiri, and The Telegraph among others.
Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal
Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal is a writer and literary translator, currently based in Manchester, where she is working towards a practice-based PhD at MMU’s Centre for Place Writing. Her debut collection, The Yak Dilemma, is published by Makina Press.
Jay Mitra
Jay Mitra (they/he) is a British Indian punk poet, multi slam champion, and freelance journalist from Hull, currently based in London. Jay was a founding member of Hull's poetry collective No Larkin About and is also an alumni of Manchester poetry collective Young Identity. They were selected as one of Apples & Snakes’ 40 Future Voices in poetry and were a winner of the Creative Future Writers’ Award in 2023. Jay was joint-third place in the Roundhouse Slam 2023 and is currently a member of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective 2024. Their poetry has been published in Acumen Poetry, Drawn To The Light Press, Streetcake Magazine and Broken Sleep Books’ Queer Icons anthology.
Shagufta K Iqbal
Shagufta K Iqbal's debut poetry collection Jam Is For Girls, Girls Get Jam (Burning Eye Books) was described by gal-dem as “heart-wrenching and relatable”, and praised by Nikesh Shukla as “a socio-political masterclass”. She writes for adults and children. Her children’s book Bibi and Rumi (HarperCollins) is a warm, joyful story that celebrates wonder, connection and cultural heritage, and The Spelling Bee (Harper Collins) highlights and celebrate young people with neurodiversity. She is currently working on her second poetry collection 'Blue, Babe' (Nine Arches Press) out in Autumn 2026.
