First Kannada title to win prestigious prize

London: 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 (Rs. 57.42 lakh) International Booker Prize.

The award was announced at a ceremony last night at London’s Tate Modern, where Mushtaq accepted the honour alongside her translator, Deepa Bhasthi, who translated Mushtaq’s Kannada book Haseena Mattu Itare Kathegalu to English, titled Heart Lamp.

According to the report, the collection, comprising 12 short stories, powerfully portrays the resilience, resistance, humour and solidarity of 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.

“My stories are about women – how religion, society and politics demand unquestioning obedience from them, and in doing so, inflict inhumane cruelty upon them, turning them into mere subordinates. The daily incidents reported in the media and the personal experiences I have endured have been my inspiration. The pain, suffering, and helpless lives of these women create a deep emotional response within me, compelling me to write,” said Banu Mushtaq.

Deepa Bhasthi is the first Indian translator — and ninth female translator — to win the prize since it took on its current form in 2016.

Mushtaq is the sixth female author to be awarded the prize since then.

While Deepa Bhasthi is a writer and literary translator based at Madikeri in Kodagu, Banu Mushtaq was born in Hassan in 1948.

“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.

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

Banu 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.

CM congratulates

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

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.

While, Man Booker Prize now known as ‘The Booker Prize’ is a British literary award given annually for best original work of long-form fiction written in English and published in the UK or Ireland. It was previously known as Booker Prize for Fiction (1969-2001) and Man Booker Prize (2002-2019).