London (UK): In a monumental moment for Indian literature, 77-year-old Kannada writer, lawyer, and activist Banu Mushtaq has become the first author writing in Kannada to win the International Booker Prize. Her short story collection, The Heart Lamp, translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi, was awarded the prestigious prize at a ceremony held at the Tate Modern in London.
Spanning stories written between 1990 and 2023, Heart Lamp is a portrayal of the struggles faced by Muslim women in southern India. The book was selected from six international finalists and praised for its "witty, vivid, colloquial, moving and excoriating" storytelling.
Rooted in the Bandaya Sahitya (Rebel Literature) movement, Mushtaq’s work is known for its raw honesty and powerful portrayal of marginalised communities. Her legal background and activism influence her storytelling, which balances fiction with a sharp eye for social commentary on patriarchy, class, and religious identity.
Translator Deepa Bhasthi has been widely praised for her nuanced handling of the source material. She deliberately retained regional idioms and cultural nuances to preserve the authenticity of Mushtaq’s voice in translation. In keeping with the Booker tradition, both author and translator will share the £50,000 prize equally.
This win marks only the second time a work originally written in an Indian language has received the International Booker Prize. The first was Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand in 2022, translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell. Now, with Banu Mushtaq’s powerful stories making their way to a global audience, her victory has sparked fresh conversations about the richness and relevance of India’s regional languages — and the worlds they open up when shared beyond borders.
What makes this win even more remarkable is its timing, in an age where global readers are increasingly seeking stories that break away from dominant Western narratives.
This historic win is more than just a personal milestone for Banu Mushtaq — it’s a celebration of the depth and beauty of regional Indian literature. It shines a light on the power of translation to carry voices across languages and borders, allowing stories rooted in local realities to find a place on the global stage.