What inspires you to write?

I write because silence hurts louder than any scream.

Growing up in a culture where emotions are often buried beneath duty, expectations, and fear of judgment, I realized that many people carry entire oceans in their hearts, but are never taught how to swim.

What inspires me to write is the unspoken: the words we choke back, the tears we hide, the love we’re afraid to confess, the pain we pretend doesn’t exist. I write not to be heard, but so that someone, somewhere, can feel less alone when they read my truth.

Poetry became my rebellion and my refuge. It gave me the courage to bleed beautifully on the page when the world around me only expected me to be strong and silent.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

The moment I read a poem that made someone cry and they whispered, “It feels like you wrote what I couldn’t say,” I knew I was no longer just writing, I was healing.

I didn’t consider myself a writer when I picked up a pen. I became one when I realized that my words could carry other people’s buried emotions and give them breath.

That transformation didn’t come with awards or applause, it came with connection.

Can you share a little bit about your latest book?

The Unspoken Words is not just a poetry book, it’s a diary of every emotion we are taught to hide.

Written from the heart of a South Asian youth, it captures the unspoken battles of identity, love, pain, and longing. It’s for those who feel too much but say too little, who love deeply but suffer quietly.

This book is for the invisible hearts of this world. Every poem is a mirror, and every page is a voice for the voiceless.

It’s not just mine anymore, it belongs to anyone who’s ever felt misunderstood.

What made you decide to sit down and start writing this book?

I didn’t plan to write a book, I needed to survive.

There were nights when emotions screamed inside me and silence was louder than any sound. Instead of breaking, I wrote.

Day by day, poem by poem, I realized I wasn’t just saving myself, I was creating a world where others could find healing too.

That’s when I knew: this wasn’t just a private diary. It was a gift meant to be shared.

What was the hardest thing about writing your latest book?

The hardest part was being honest, brutally, painfully honest.

Writing about real emotions meant facing my own shadows. It meant revisiting heartbreaks I had buried and traumas I never dared to name.

But the truth is, when you write poetry that matters, it doesn’t ask for comfort, it asks for courage.

And courage, for me, was allowing the world to see the cracks in my soul and calling it art.

How do you think you’ve evolved creatively?

I’ve moved from writing to be heard… to writing so others feel heard.

Earlier, I chased poetic perfection, now, I chase emotional truth.

I used to rhyme. Now, I bleed.

My evolution is not in technicality but in vulnerability. I don’t try to sound smart, I try to be real. And that has changed everything.

What is one great lesson you have learned as a writer?

That writing is not about having all the answers, it’s about daring to ask the questions that others are too scared to voice.

I’ve learned that vulnerability is not weakness, it’s power.

And the moment you stop writing to impress and start writing to connect, the world finally begins to listen.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Don’t wait for permission.

Don’t wait to be perfect.

Don’t silence yourself because you think your pain is too small or your story isn’t worth telling.

If your heart is breaking, write.

If your soul is overflowing, write.

If you have nothing but a feeling, you already have something worth saying.

Your truth might be the light someone else needs to survive their darkness.

Tell us something unique about you.

I come from Ilam, a small district of Nepal, currently residing at Surunga, Jhapa, most people have never heard of, but I carry the universe inside me.

I am a poet who never learned poetry from a book, but from silence, pain, and rain.

I once turned heartbreak into a hundred verses and fear into fire.

And maybe I don’t know everything, but I know how to feel, and that, I’ve learned, is a rare kind of genius.

Who are some of your favorite authors that you feel were influential in your work?

I am deeply influenced by the emotional brilliance of Krishna Bhusan Bal, whose poems still echo in my soul.

Internationally, I admire Rupi Kaur, for showing how raw vulnerability can become a revolution.

I also carry inspiration from Lang Leav and Atticus, whose simplicity hides oceans beneath.

But perhaps, more than authors, I am influenced by people, by broken hearts, silent eyes, and words that never got spoken. I deeply admire William Shakespeare and Rabindranath Tagore.

Want to learn more about Anup?

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