India's Banu Mushtaq wins International Booker Prize for Kannada fiction, 'Heart Lamp'

At 77, Banu Mushtaq has created literary history. The Karnataka-based writer has become the first Kannada author to win the International Booker Prize, awarded for the best English-translated fiction, for her acclaimed book Heart Lamp. The honour is shared with translator Deepa Bhasthi.

Reacting to the win, Mushtaq said, “This feels like a thousand fireflies lighting a single sky – brief, brilliant and utterly collective.”

This is only the second time an Indian work has clinched the International Booker, after Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell won in 2022 for Tomb of Sand (Ret Samadhi).

A voice for women, justice and resistance

Mushtaq’s writing has long been intertwined with her activism. A fierce advocate of women’s rights, her work consistently probes the intersections of gender, caste, power, and religion. She has openly criticised how society demands obedience from women while normalising cruelty against them.

Even in her personal life, she broke patriarchal norms—marrying a man of her choice and pushing back against societal expectations. Her legal background and social awareness further sharpen the moral compass of her stories.

A literary journey rooted in protest and experience

Mushtaq’s writing began early. She penned her first short story in middle school and had her breakout moment at 26 when a piece was published in the Kannada magazine Prajamata. Encouraged by her father despite the rigidity of her school environment, she stood up for herself from a young age.

She was shaped by Karnataka’s progressive movements, particularly the Bandaya Sahitya (rebel literature) wave that challenged caste and class injustice. Travelling across states and engaging with people’s struggles, she found the lived inspiration that fuels her fiction.

A prolific body of work

Apart from Heart Lamp, Mushtaq has written six short story collections, a novel, an essay collection, and a poetry compilation. Her literary contributions have earned her the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award and the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe Award.

Her early works were brought together in 2013 in the volume Haseena Matthu Ithara Kathegalu, followed by Hennu Haddina Swayamvara in 2023.