Banu Mushtaq - Heart Lamp (2025)
A collection of twelve short stories originally penned in Kannada by Banu Mushtaq achieved a historic milestone, winning the Booker Prize 2025. This marks the first time a Kannada-language work and a short story collection have received the coveted award. Later translated by Deepa Bhasthi, the book was written between 1990 and 2023, which portrays the lives of women and girls in patriarchal communities in Southern India. The stories offer intimate portraits of the struggles of muslim women confronting societal constraints, often drawing from Banu's own experiences and observations.
The compilation of the 12 stories are Stone Slabs for Shaista Mahal, Fire Rain, Black Cobras, A Decision of the Heart, Red Lungi, Heart Lamp, High-Heeled Shoe, Soft Whispers, A Taste of Heaven, The Shroud, The Arabic Teacher and Gobi Manchuri, Be a Woman Once, Oh Lord.
Banu Mushtaq has gained recognition as an advocate, journalist, poet, novelist, and social activist, and was honored at the award ceremony organized at the Tate Modern in London.
