Banu Mushtaq has been awarded the International Booker Prize for her poignant short story collection, Heart Lamp, per dw.com. This marks the first time a Kannada-language author has received the esteemed award for translated fiction, and the first time a collection of short stories has claimed the top honour.
The 77-year-old Indian author and activist shares the £50,000 prize with her translator, Deepa Bhasthi, who is also the first Indian translator to win the prize in its current format.
Heart Lamp, a compilation of stories penned over three decades, captivated the judges with its unique voice and insightful commentary on women’s lives, reproductive rights, faith, caste, power and oppression.
Max Porter, chair of the judging panel, lauded Heart Lamp as “something genuinely new for English readers,” praising its ability to weave the “extraordinary socio-political richness of other languages and dialects” into its narrative.
During her acceptance speech at London’s Tate Modern Museum, Mushtaq expressed her profound gratitude, emphasising that the win was “not as an individual but as a voice raised in chorus with so many others.” She beautifully articulated, “This moment feels like a thousand fireflies lighting a single sky — brief, brilliant and utterly collective.”
This historic win shines a global spotlight on Kannada literature, spoken by approximately 65 million people in southern India, and celebrates the power of translation in bridging cultures and voices.
