Description
By (author) Banu Mushtaq; Translated by Deepa Bhasthi
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Longlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize
In the twelve stories of Heart Lamp, Banu Mushtaq exquisitely captures the everyday lives of women and girls in Muslim communities in southern India. Praised for their dry and gentle humour, these portraits of family and community tensions have garnered both censure from conservative quarters as well India”s most prestigious literary awards.
”A significant presence in Kannada literature, Banu Mushtaq reveals the varied realities of contemporary women with rare talent and art. Deepa Bhasthi”s rich translation captures the original”s nuances of voice, context and experience, bringing this important work into English for new readers in India and internationally.” PEN Presents Selection Panel
Review quote:
”One of Karnataka”s leading progressive writers.” New Age Islam
”Exploring the lives of those often on the periphery of society, these vivid stories hold immense emotional and moral weight” The International Booker Prize 2025 Judges
— The International Booker Prize 2025 Judges
Biographical note:
Banu Mushtaq is a writer, activist and lawyer in the state of Karnataka, southern India. Mushtaq began writing within the progressive protest literary circles in southwestern India in the 1970s and 1980s: critical of the caste and class system, the Bandaya Sahitya movement gave rise to influential Dalit and Muslim writers, of whom Mushtaq was one of the few women.She is the author of six short story collections, a novel, an essay collection and a poetry collection. She writes in Kannada and has won major awards for her literary works, including the Karnataka Sahitya Academy and the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe awards. Previously translated into Urdu, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam, the first book-length translation of her work into English will be Heart Lamp: Selected Stories, to be published in 2025, while one of the stories from Heart Lamp has been published in the Paris Review. Deepa Bhasthi is a writer and literary translator based in Kodagu, southern India. She translates from Kannada and also publishes essays and cultural criticism.
Promotional headline:
Deftly written and empathetic short stories.
Endorsement:
‘A significant presence in Kannada literature, Banu Mushtaq reveals the varied realities of contemporary women with rare talent and art. Deepa Bhasthi’s rich translation captures the original’s nuances of voice, context and experience, bringing this important work into English for new readers in India and internationally.’ PEN Presents Selection Panel
Endorsement:
‘Exploring the gorgeous chorus of voices that make up Heart Lamp feels a little like stepping into an unknown pair of shoes. We can experience where the other wearer might have felt a pinching sense of restriction, the little scuffs and imperfections their day-to-day life has caused, the spaces where comfort can be found. Profound, heart-wrenching and insightful, this should be on everyone”s reading list for 2025.’ Megan, Waterstones Newcastle
Endorsement:
‘With a tender heart and a sharp eye for nuance, Banu Mushtaq pens stories with deep contextual understanding of patriarchal institutions and with sympathy to the modern realities of contemporary Muslim women.’ Joshua Jones
Endorsement:
‘Banu Mushtaq was one of the founding members of the Bandaya Sahitya Sanghatane, which means the Rebel Literary Movement. A favourite phrase of the movement was: “The dear friend whose heart beats for people’s pain.” We see this compassion and love for the people, in particular Muslim women, that Mushtaq writes about in her stories. As a friend, she writes from amidst them, for them, through the struggles, details and complexity of their li
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