Exclusive | International Booker Prize 2025 winner, Kannada writer Banu Mushtaq: No one should politicise language!

Lawyer Banu Mushtaq, from Karnataka (India), is the first to win this award. Her short story collection Heart Lamp is translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi.

Activist-lawyer Banu Mushtaq has made history by becoming the first Indian author writing in Kannada language to win the International Book Prize for her short story collection, Heart Lamp translated by Deepa Bhasthi. But, even after bringing international laurels to the country, it's difficult for her to steer clear on the topic of the great north-south language debate existing within India. The 77-year-old whose mother tongue is Urdu, says, “We speak Dakhni Urdu at home”, and she writes in Kannada, expects that her choice to give her award acceptance speech in English won’t break the hearts of Kannada speakers.

Banu Mushtaq, author of Heart Lamp, is the first Kannada writer to have won the International Booker Prize in London.(Photo: Alberto Pezzali/AP )

“Ab mai England mein hun toh English mein baat ki, aur mai jab wapas jaungi Karnataka toh Kannada mein bolungi, Delhi aungi toh Hindi bolungi, ya Lucknow jaungi toh Hindi ya Urdu mein bolungi… Diversity hai language mein. Toh language ke bare mein dushmani bhi nahi karna chahiye aur hadd se zyada ek junoon bhi nahi hona chahiye,” she tells HT City on a call from London, adding, “Language ke usage mein koi problem nahi hai, magar language ko jab koi politicise karega toh issue wahan se starts hota hai – be it south Indian or north Indian – no one should politicise language!”

 

Kannada-speaking people are very tolerant, and don't fight over language issue. But, if Kannada language is ignored then their self-respect is bound to get hurt.

Mention about the viral social media posts and Reels that prove the North-South language divide is deep-rooted, and Banu defends with a plausible argument: “Kannad log bahut tolerant hain, woh language issue par ladne wale nahi hain. Magar jab Kannada ko ignore kiya jaye toh unki self respect ko thes lagegi na... All north Indians who have shifted to Bengaluru, want to make the city their home. Yahan (Karnataka) ke log, resources, ko use kar rahe ho toh local language bhi seekhna aur bolna chahhiye na…”

 

Heart Lamp is a collection 12 short stories, originally written in Kannada between 1990 and 2023, and published by Penguin Random House India.

Her opinions sound as worthy as her writings, which have made inroads into the hearts of foreigners. Hence, countering all clauses that this award might have come in to please the Asian diaspora or look inclusive towards Asian literature, she states: “Aisi koi baat nahi hai, bahut sare shortlist huye usmein French aur Danish writers bhi hain. And in India, if you see, I'm the second winner, first is Geetanjali Shree (2022; for the novel Tomb of Sand)... toh bar bar sirf Asian literature ko hi importance nahi diya gaya. But, my Heart Lamp touched a chord with the jury because they found something new in it. In fact, a lot of people expressed to me in a lot of functions that they had not seen or heard of such characters and hence found it new and refreshing. I feel the jury is in search of what's new and is pro-humanity as well as gives prominence to brotherhood and hope.”

 

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