Role
2026 Keynote Speaker
Region
Bay Area, California, USA
Harman Kaur is a Punjabi Sikh poet whose work traces the emotional landscape of diaspora, womanhood, memory, and belonging. Born and raised in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada she now lives in the Bay Area, California. She is the author of ‘Phulkari’ (self-published, 2018) and ‘Call Me Home’ (Central Avenue Poetry, distributed by Simon & Schuster, 2025). Her forthcoming third collection, ‘What the Rivers Remember,’ was also picked up by Simon & Schuster and Central Avenue Poetry. Its anticipated release is set for Spring, 2027.
‘Phulkari’ — composed between the ages of 16 and 20 and self-published at 21 — sold out its first 250 pre-order copies in under two weeks and went on to earn 4.8 stars across 177 Amazon reviews (as of May, 2026). ‘Call Me Home’ was declared the “breakout book of the year” by its publisher, Central Avenue Poetry, and earned praise from national bestselling author Simran Jeet Singh, among others. She has since garnered 59K TikTok followers with 4.6M likes along with 45K Instagram followers (as of May, 2026).
Harman Kaur holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Simon Fraser University. She teaches Punjabi — a profession she chose based on her conviction that to lose a language is to lose a people.
“The best advice I can give is to stay authentic to yourself and your work…I promise there is someone out there who needs your story.”
— Harman Kaur
