In a major feat for Indian Literature, Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp, a collection of twelve short stories originally written in Kannada and translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi, has won the 2025 International Booker Prize. It is the first Kannada work and only the second from both India and South Asia to receive this coveted award.
Watch the moment Heart Lamp was announced as the winner of the #InternationalBooker2025, and hear what Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi said in their speeches.https://t.co/fls1ayRPCn
— The Booker Prizes (@TheBookerPrizes) May 20, 2025
The chair of judges, Max Porter described the International Booker Prize winning book as ”something genuinely new for English readers: a radical translation” of beautiful, busy, life-affirming stories,” as quoted by The Guardian. The book portrays everyday experiences and the inner world of women in southern India through 12 stories written over more than three decades. The announcement was made at a ceremony organised at London’s Tate Modern. The winner’s name was unveiled by Max Porter, a famous author and chair of the five-member judging panel. Porter praised the translation as ”radical”, highlighting how the jury’s praises increased as they engaged with the layered narrative. He recounted the experience of assessing the work as ‘’a joy’’.
The book portrays everyday experiences and the inner world of women in southern India through 12 stories written over more than three decades. The announcement was made at a ceremony organised at London’s Tate Modern. The winner’s name was unveiled by Max Porter, a famous author and chair of the five-member judging panel. Porter praised the translation as ‘’radical’’, highlighting how the jury’s praises increased as they engaged with the layered narrative. He recounted the experience of assessing the work as ‘’a joy’’.
All about the ”Heart Lamp”
The £50,000 prize money will be shared between Mushtaq and Bhasthi. The book’s storyline is centred on the lives of Muslim women living in southern India. The story explores topics like caste, religious conservatism, and patriarchy. It also showcases Mushtaq’s experiences as a lawyer and women’s rights advocate.
The book is the first collection of short stories to won the prestigious award. With this win, Deepa Bhasti also becomes the first Indian translator and only the ninth woman translator to bag the trophy since its inception in 2016. On the other hand, Mushtaq has become the sixth female author to receive the honour. As the book is originally written in Kannada, a language which is spoken by around 65 million people, it tells stories with a background of southern India’s socio-cultural realities, especially for women who were going through complex social restrictions. Bhasthi’s translation has been hailed for maintaining the genuineness and rhythm of the original piece. The story also does justice in its accessibility to a global audience.
The International Booker Prize celebrates both the original author as well the translator in literature. The award is shared between both of them, underlining the collaborative effort behind the cross-cultural story-telling.
(With inputs from Associated Press)
