Heart Lamp: Banu Mushtaq Makes History with International Booker Prize Win
Indian writer, lawyer, and activist Banu Mushtaq has made history by becoming the first author writing in the Kannada language to win the International Booker Prize for her short story anthology, Heart Lamp. The award, presented to her by translator Deepa Bhasthi, marks a significant milestone for regional literature in India.
Heart Lamp, which features 12 short stories written by Mushtaq between 1990 and 2023, poignantly captures the hardships faced by Muslim women in southern India. The stories were translated into English from Kannada, a language spoken in the state of Karnataka, by Bhasthi, who will share the £50,000 prize. The anthology has been praised for its compelling portrayal of survival and resilience.
In her acceptance speech, Mushtaq expressed gratitude to readers for allowing her words to resonate with them. She emphasized the importance of every story, no matter how small, in the broader tapestry of human experience. ‘In a world that often tries to divide us, literature remains one of the last sacred spaces where we can live inside each other’s minds, if only for a few pages,’ she said.
Bhasthi, who became the first Indian translator to win an International Booker Prize, hopes that this win will encourage more translations from and into Kannada and other South Asian languages. Manasi Subramaniam, Editor-in-Chief of Penguin India, the book’s publisher in India, highlighted the significance of the award for regional literature. ‘Following Tomb of Sand’s landmark win in 2022, Heart Lamp’s triumph this year is a powerful reminder that literature in India’s many languages demands our full attention. We owe it our ears,’ she said.
Mushtaq’s body of work is well-known among book lovers, but the Booker International win has brought greater attention to her life and literary oeuvre, which mirrors the challenges faced by the women in her stories. Her self-awareness has contributed to the nuanced characters and plotlines in her work.
A review in the Indian Express noted that ‘In a literary culture that rewards spectacle, Heart Lamp insists on the value of attention – to lives lived at the edges, to unnoticed choices, to the strength it takes simply to persist. That is Banu Mushtaq’s quiet power.’
Who is Banu Mushtaq?
Mushtaq grew up in a small town in the southern state of Karnataka in a Muslim neighborhood. Like most girls around her, she studied the Quran in the Urdu language at school. However, her father, a government employee, wanted more for her and enrolled her in a convent school where the medium of instruction was the state’s official language, Kannada. Mushtaq worked hard to become fluent in Kannada, which became the language she chose for her literary expression.
She began writing while still in school and chose to go to college even as her peers were getting married and raising children. It took several years before Mushtaq was published, and it happened during a particularly challenging phase in her life. Her short story appeared in a local magazine a year after she had married, and she faced significant personal struggles, including a near-suicidal attempt that led to a life-changing moment of defiance.
Mushtaq’s career has spanned decades, during which she has published six short story collections, an essay collection, and a novel. She has also worked as a reporter in a prominent local tabloid and as a lawyer to support her family. Her incisive writing has made her a target of hate, including threatening phone calls and a fatwa issued against her in 2000 after she expressed her opinion supporting women’s right to offer prayer in mosques.
Despite these challenges, Mushtaq has continued to write with fierce honesty. She has won numerous prestigious local and national awards, including the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award and the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe Award. In 2024, the translated English compilation of her five short story collections, Haseena and Other Stories, won the PEN Translation Prize.
What Does Banu Mushtaq Write About?
In Heart Lamp, her female characters mirror the spirit of resistance and resilience. ‘In mainstream Indian literature, Muslim women are often flattened into metaphors — silent sufferers or tropes in someone else’s moral argument. Mushtaq refuses both. Her characters endure, negotiate, and occasionally push back — not in ways that claim headlines, but in ways that matter to their lives,’ according to a review of the book in The Indian Express.
Mushtaq’s work has addressed social and economic injustices through literature and activism, and she has been associated with the Bandaya movement. Her writings have won numerous awards, and her commitment to challenging chauvinistic religious interpretations continues to be a central theme in her work.