UK: Celebrated Indian writer, lawyer and women’s rights activist Banu Mushtaq has made history by becoming the first author writing in Kannada to win the prestigious International Booker Prize.
Mushtaq, 77, was awarded for her poignant short story anthology Heart Lamp, translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi, who shares the £50,000 prize.
Announced at London’s Tate Modern, the win marks the first time a short story collection has claimed the International Booker and highlights the power of regional Indian literature on the global stage.
Featuring 12 stories written between 1990 and 2023, Heart Lamp offers piercing insights into the lives of Muslim women in southern India, capturing their struggles, strength, and subtle defiance against a deeply patriarchal society.
Mushtaq, known for her fierce advocacy of women’s rights, has long tackled themes of caste, religion, power, and resistance in her work. “This feels like a thousand fireflies lighting a single sky – brief, brilliant, and utterly collective,” she said during her acceptance speech. She praised literature’s ability to connect people across boundaries, calling it “one of the last sacred spaces where we can live inside each other’s minds.”
We’re delighted to announce that the winner of the #InternationalBooker2025 is Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated by Deepa Bhasthi.
Here’s everything you need to know about the book: https://t.co/wPRGqgrQyc pic.twitter.com/tVFxwSGhZo
— The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) May 20, 2025
Born in a conservative Muslim family in Karnataka, Mushtaq defied expectations early, attending a convent school, choosing her life partner, and writing her first story in middle school.
Despite societal pressures, she pursued her literary and activist goals, drawing inspiration from Karnataka’s progressive Bandaya movement. Her personal experiences including postpartum depression, domestic limitations, and even a brush with suicide profoundly shaped her writing and lent her characters a powerful authenticity.
Mushtaq’s early works were compiled in Haseena Matthu Ithara Kathegalu (2013), with Hennu Haddina Swayamvara following in 2023. Her stories reject reductive portrayals of Muslim women, instead offering textured narratives of endurance and agency.
Despite facing threats, including a fatwa and a knife attack in 2000, Mushtaq continued to write with unwavering honesty. Her career includes six short story collections, essays, poetry, and a novel, earning her accolades such as the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award and the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe Award.
