International Booker Prize – 2025
Kartavya Desk Staff
Source: HT
Context: Banu Mushtaq, Kannada author and activist, has won the International Booker Prize 2025 for her short story collection Heart Lamp, translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi.
About International Booker Prize, 2025:
• Established: 2005
• Given By: Booker Prize Foundation, UK
• Frequency: Annually awarded
• Purpose: Honors the best translated work of fiction into English from any language.
• Award Amount: £50,000 (shared equally between author and translator)
• Key Features:
• Focuses exclusively on translated fiction, unlike the Booker Prize which is for English-original works.
• Recognizes literary excellence, cultural richness, and the art of translation.
• Indian Winners (International Booker)
• Geetanjali Shree – Tomb of Sand (2022), translated by Daisy Rockwell (First Hindi work to win)
• Banu Mushtaq – Heart Lamp (2025), translated by Deepa Bhasthi (First Kannada work to win
About Banu Mushtaq:
• Born: April 3, 1948, Hassan, Karnataka
• Professions: Advocate, journalist, writer, women’s rights activist, former municipal councillor
• Associated with: Bandaya Movement – Kannada protest literature for social justice
• Literary Career:
• Began writing in 1974, first published in Prajamatha.
• Reported for Lankesh Patrike (1981–1990), mentored by P. Lankesh.
• Transitioned to law and continued writing on gender, caste, and religious issues.
• Heart Lamp (2025 Winner):
• A collection of 12 short stories written between 1990 and 2023.
• Portrays the lives of ordinary South Indian Muslim women, dealing with patriarchy, faith, family, and autonomy.
• Translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi, who also became the first Indian translator to win this prize.
• Other Notable Works:
• Benki Male (1999) – Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award
• Haseena Mattu Itara Kathegalu (2015) – Translated as Haseena and Other Stories
• Her short story “Black Cobra” was adapted into the award-winning film Hasina by Girish Kasaravalli.