Heart Lamp by the Indian writer Banu Mushtaq wins 2025 International Booker prize – a powerful collection of stories inspired by the real suffering of women

By Helen Vassallo, Associate Professor of French and Translation, University of Exeter

Banu Mushtaq’s quietly powerful collection of short stories, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, shines a light on the lives of Muslim women in rural India. It is the first time that the International Booker prize has been won by a book translated from Kannada, a language of south India spoken by between 50 and 80 million people.

Mushtaq is a writer who has previously worked as a journalist and lawyer, fighting for women’s rights and speaking out against caste and religious oppression. This comes through in the vignettes collected in Heart Lamp. At the centre of this work is great compassion…

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