London/Bengaluru: Indian author, lawyer, and activist Banu Mushtaq has been awarded the prestigious International Booker Prize 2025 for her critically acclaimed short story collection Heart Lamp, marking a historic moment as the first work translated from Kannada to receive the honor. The prize money of £50,000 will be shared with translator Deepa Bhasthi, the first Indian translator to win this accolade, reported the Deccan Herald.
Heart Lamp is a powerful anthology of 12 short stories that delve into the lives of ordinary Muslim women in southern India—narratives of stoic mothers, sharp-witted grandmothers, cruel husbands, and resilient children. The stories challenge widespread Western stereotypes about Muslim life and reflect themes of resilience, wit, emotional ingenuity, and societal injustice.
Speaking at the award ceremony held at the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in London on 20 May, Mushtaq remarked, “My stories are about women – how religion, society, and politics demand unquestioning obedience from them, inflicting inhumane cruelty and reducing them to subordinates. The daily news and my personal experiences compel me to write.”
This win marks only the second time an Indian author has claimed the International Booker Prize, following Geetanjali Shree’s 2022 win for Tomb of Sand.
Translator Deepa Bhasthi spoke about her immersive approach to translating the stories. “I was very conscious that I knew little about the community Banu portrays. To bridge that gap, I immersed myself in Pakistani dramas, Sufi music from artists like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Arooj Aftab, and even learned the Urdu script,” Bhasthi shared, explaining how she endeavored to internalize the world of the stories.
Chair of the judging panel, Max Porter, praised the work as a “radical translation” and described Heart Lamp as “life-affirming,” noting that it portrays Muslim women not as downtrodden figures but as embodiments of courage, humor, and solidarity. “This book arrives at a time when Islamophobia is an urgent issue. It doesn’t fall into tropes but instead offers a beautiful, textured challenge to Western assumptions,” he said.
Porter also lauded the translation for its “multiplicity of Englishes,” stating that it brings new linguistic textures and expands the possibilities of what translated literature can achieve.
Meanwhile, back in India, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah congratulated Mushtaq for her achievement, calling it a moment of pride not just for the state, but for all Kannadigas. “Banu Mushtaq has brought immense recognition to Kannada literature on a global platform,” he said in a statement.
Founded in 2005 and restructured in 2015, the International Booker Prize now annually recognizes the finest fiction from around the world originally written in a language other than English and translated for the UK audience. Past winners include literary giants such as Chinua Achebe, Philip Roth, and Lydia Davis.
Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp, with its rich socio-political tapestry, bold voice, and intimate portrayal of the Muslim female experience in India, is now being hailed as a transformative piece of literature that not only enriches English readers but redefines the space for regional Indian languages in global literature.
