In a historic win for regional storytelling and translation, Heart Lamp, a collection of stories by Banu Mushtaq and translated by Deepa Bhasthi, has been awarded the 2025 International Booker Prize. Originally written in Kannada, Heart Lamp offers a searing, tender, and witty look at the lives of women and girls in Muslim communities in southern India.
Through a rich, spoken style that is both colloquial and emotionally charged, Banu Mushtaq crafts portraits that are as unforgettable as they are urgent. Her characters — spirited children, resilient grandmothers, helpless husbands, and, above all, the mothers who carry unbearable emotional burdens — are rendered with piercing empathy and insight.
A former journalist and lawyer, Mushtaq’s commitment to justice and women’s rights pulses through every page. She does not shy away from the tensions of caste, patriarchy, and religious conservatism — instead, she lays them bare, and often with sharp wit.
Translated with lyrical precision by Deepa Bhasthi, Heart Lamp is more than a collection of stories — it is a living archive of resistance, tenderness, and truth. Its recognition by the Booker jury is a powerful affirmation of the importance of regional voices and the transformative power of translation.
This win marks a watershed moment not just for Kannada literature, but for all the unsung stories that are waiting — burning — to be told.
