‘Heart Lamp’ becomes first Kannada title to win International Booker Prize, Siddaramaiah congratulates Banu Mushtaq

The collection offers a powerful portrayal of the resilience, resistance, humour, and solidarity among women in patriarchal communities in southern India.

In a historic moment for Indian literature, Heart Lamp, a short story collection by writer, activist, and lawyer Banu Mushtaq, has become the first Kannada title to win the prestigious GBP 50,000 International Booker Prize.

Banu Mushtaq, author of 'Heart Lamp' left, and Deepa Bhasthi pose for photographers upon arrival for the International Booker Prize, in London. (AP)

The award was announced at a ceremony held at London’s Tate Modern on Tuesday night, where Mushtaq accepted the honour alongside her translator, Deepa Bhasthi, news agency PTI reported.

According to the report, the collection, comprising 12 short stories, offers a powerful portrayal of the resilience, resistance, humour, and solidarity among women in patriarchal communities in southern India. Drawing deeply from the oral storytelling traditions of the region, the stories span over three decades, written between 1990 and 2023.

The judges were struck by the book’s “witty, vivid, colloquial, moving and excoriating” tone as it captured nuanced family dynamics and community tensions. It stood out among six shortlisted titles from around the world.

“This book was born from the belief that no story is ever small, that in the tapestry of human experience every thread holds the weight of the whole,” Mushtaq said in her acceptance speech. “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.”

Her translator, Deepa Bhasthi, added: “What a beautiful win this is for my beautiful language.”

“A radical translation”

Chair of the 2025 International Booker Prize judging panel, Max Porter, called Heart Lamp “a radical translation” that reshaped language and offered “new textures in a plurality of Englishes.”

“It challenges and expands our understanding of translation,” he said. “This was the book the judges really loved, right from our first reading. We are thrilled to share this timely and exciting winner of the International Booker Prize 2025 with readers around the world.”

Mushtaq’s collection is also notable for being the first short story collection to win the International Booker. Bhasthi, who curated the selection of stories, was intentional about preserving the multilingual fabric of southern India — leaving in Urdu and Arabic expressions where the characters naturally use them in dialogue.

Fiammetta Rocco, Administrator of the International Booker Prize, called Heart Lamp a must-read across genders and geographies. “Stories written by a great advocate of women’s rights over three decades and translated with sympathy and ingenuity, should be read by men and women all over the world,” she said. “The book speaks to our times, and to the ways in which many are silenced.”

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday congratulated Banu Mushtaq for winning International Booker Prize for her Kannada short story collection and said, she has raised the flag of Kannada's greatness at international level.

Rocco also noted that younger generations today are connecting with diverse global narratives, thanks to the power of translation.

The International Booker Prize annually recognises the finest work of translated fiction, either long-form or short stories, published in English in the UK or Ireland between May 2024 and April 2025.

This win marks the second Indian language title to claim the International Booker after Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell won in 2022 for the Hindi novel Tomb of Sand. In 2023, Perumal Murugan’s Tamil novel Pyre, translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan, was longlisted.