A Landmark Victory for Indian Literature
In an unprecedented literary moment, India’s Banu Mushtaq has won the prestigious International Booker Prize for her Kannada-language short story collection, ‘Heart Lamp’. This marks the first time in the award’s history that a collection of short stories has clinched the title. The honor is shared with translator Deepa Bhasthi, making her the first Indian translator to win since 2016. Together, they outshone five other finalists to claim the £50,000 prize, awarded equally between author and translator, at a glittering ceremony held at London’s Tate Modern.
What Is the International Booker Prize?
The International Booker Prize is one of the world’s most esteemed literary honors, awarded annually to a book translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. It celebrates the art of translation and the global power of storytelling. Since adopting its current form in 2016, the award has spotlighted powerful narratives beyond the Anglophone world. Though Indian authors have appeared on the shortlist, Banu Mushtaq becomes the first Kannada writer—and only the second Indian author—to win. Her victory is not just personal; it marks a turning point for Indian literature in translation on the world stage.
Banu Mushtaq: A Voice for the Voiceless
77-year-old Mushtaq, a writer, lawyer, and activist, has long been a beacon for women’s rights and social justice in southern India. Her award-winning collection, Heart Lamp, spans over three decades of storytelling—from 1990 to 2023—capturing the layered realities of women navigating the complexities of religion, caste, politics, and patriarchy. Her narratives, rooted in everyday lives, expose how institutions often demand silent obedience from women, enforcing roles of subjugation.
Mushtaq began her literary journey as a schoolgirl, gaining critical attention at 26 through the magazine Prajamata. Born into a large Muslim family, she found unwavering support in her father, especially during her resistance against authoritarian schooling. Influenced by Karnataka’s Bandaya Sahitya movement, a bold literary rebellion against caste and class oppression, Mushtaq’s writing evolved into a potent blend of literary beauty and social critique.
Her oeuvre includes six short story collections, a novel, an essay collection, and poetry. She has been awarded the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award and the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe Award, among others. Heart Lamp is a culmination of decades of unflinching truth-telling and profound empathy.
The Radical Power of Translation
At the heart of this win is also the craft of Deepa Bhasthi, who curated and translated Heart Lamp. Speaking Kannada—a language spoken by over 65 million people—Bhasthi retained the linguistic and cultural richness of the original stories, interweaving multiple dialects and idioms native to southern India.
Chair of judges Max Porter hailed the work as “radical,” noting the panel’s evolving appreciation of its socio-political depth. “These beautiful, busy, life-affirming stories,” he said, “speak of women’s lives, reproductive rights, faith, caste, power, and oppression.”
Bhasthi is the ninth female translator to win the International Booker, joining a growing group of women reshaping the global literary narrative through translation.
A Cultural and Literary Milestone
This victory signifies more than individual achievement—it is a historic breakthrough for Indian regional literature, particularly from voices traditionally marginalized by mainstream narratives. Heart Lamp shatters long-held assumptions about the marketability and universality of short stories, women’s voices, and regional Indian languages.
For Kannada literature, this is a moment of profound pride. For Indian women writers and translators, it opens new possibilities of global recognition.
In a world where mainstream voices often drown out the subtle and the subaltern, Heart Lamp shines as a beacon—quiet but powerful, illuminating corners long left in shadow. Mushtaq’s win is not just literary success; it’s a reclamation of narrative space for women, for regional language writers, and for the stories that demand to be heard.
As literature continues to bridge borders, Mushtaq’s triumph reminds us that the most transformative stories often rise from the ground up—from everyday people, in overlooked languages, bearing truths that resonate across the globe.
(With agency inputs)
