Indian author Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi have won the prestigious International Booker Prize for fiction with their work Heart Lamp, a powerful collection of 12 short stories that span over three decades. The stories portray the everyday experiences and struggles of women in southern India.
The award was announced at a ceremony held at London’s Tate Modern by Max Porter, the Booker Prize-longlisted author and chair of the five-member judging panel. Notably, this is the first time the prize has been awarded to a short story collection.
Deepa Bhasthi becomes the first Indian translator — and the ninth female translator — to win the award since the International Booker Prize was restructured in 2016. Banu Mushtaq is the sixth female author to be honored with the prize under its current format.
Originally written in Kannada, a language spoken by around 65 million people in southern India, the stories were recognized by the jury for their bold and radical translation. Porter described the stories as “beautiful, busy, life-affirming,” noting their linguistic richness and exploration of complex socio-political themes, including caste, religion, faith, reproductive rights, power, and oppression.
The stories in Heart Lamp were written between 1990 and 2023 and were handpicked by Bhasthi, who made a deliberate effort to retain the region’s multilingual essence in the English translation.
Mushtaq, who is also a lawyer and activist, highlighted during a recent reading event that her stories focus on how societal, political, and religious structures demand obedience from women, often subjecting them to harsh treatment and stripping them of agency.
The prize includes a £50,000 (approximately $66,000) cash award, which will be equally shared between Mushtaq and Bhasthi. Both also receive a commemorative trophy.
The International Booker Prize is awarded annually and runs alongside the Booker Prize for English-language fiction, which will be presented later this year.
