Last Updated:May 21, 2025, 09:33 IST

International Booker Prize 2025: Banu Mushtag has a celebrated literary career, which includes six short story collections, a novel, an essay collection, and a poetry collection. 

International Booker Prize 2025: Banu Mushtaq shared the £50,000 prize money equally with her translator, Deepa Bhasthi, who rendered the powerful stories into English.

International Booker Prize 2025: Indian writer, activist and lawyer Banu Mushtaq made history by winning the prestigious International Booker Prize 2025 for her short story collection, Heart Lamp- a significant milestone as it marks the first time a book written in the Kannada language received the esteemed international literary award.

Banu Mushtaq shared the £50,000 prize money equally with her translator, Deepa Bhasthi, who rendered the powerful stories into English. ‘Heart Lamp’ is also notable as the first collection of short stories to win the International Booker Prize. The winning collection comprises 12 short stories penned over three decades, from 1990 to 2023- which offer a poignant and insightful look into the everyday lives, struggles and resilience of women, particularly within Muslim communities in South India. The judging panel praised Heart Lamp for its “witty, vivid, colloquial, moving and excoriating" style, and for its “radical translation" that brings new textures to English readers.

Who Is Banu Mushtaq?

Banu Mushtaq has a celebrated literary career, which includes six short story collections, a novel, an essay collection, and a poetry collection. Her journey began in a small Muslim neighborhood in Karnataka. Like many girls around her, she initially studied the Quran in Urdu. However, her father, a government employee with greater aspirations for her, enrolled her in a convent school at the age of eight, where the medium of instruction was Kannada. Banu Mushtaq dedicated herself to mastering Kannada and started writing during her school years.

She defied societal norms by pursuing higher education. It took several years for Banu Mushtaq’s work to see publication as her first short story appeared in a local magazine a year after her love marriage at 26. However, her early marital years were fraught with conflict and strife. In an interview with Vogue magazine, Banu Mushtaq revealed the profound impact of her marital experience on her creative life. She said, “I had always wanted to write but had nothing to write (about) because suddenly, after a love marriage, I was told to wear a burqa and dedicate myself to domestic work. I became a mother suffering from postpartum depression at 29."

A shocking act of desperation ultimately became a turning point for her as she said in an interview, “Once, in a fit of despair, I poured white petrol on myself, intending to set myself on fire. Thankfully, he [her husband] sensed it in time, hugged me, and took away the matchbox. He pleaded with me, placing our baby at my feet saying, ‘Don’t abandon us’."

Banu Mushtaq is also a prominent activist and lawyer and her writing has addressed themes of religion, society, and politics, advocating for women’s rights and challenging social injustices.

What Is ‘Heart Lamp’ About?

Heart Lamp offers an intimate and multifaceted portrayal of the lives of Muslim women in southern India. The collection delves into their daily experiences, aspirations, and the often-unseen challenges they navigate within societal, religious, and political frameworks. The collection explores themes of resilience, identity, and the quiet rebellions against patriarchal norms and examines the complexities of tradition, the nuances of faith, and the universal human desire for dignity and agency.

First Published:

May 21, 2025, 09:33 IST

Adblock test (Why?)