Heart Lamp: Selected Stories by Banu Mushtaq

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About the Book

Heart Lamp: Selected Stories brings together twelve short stories by Banu Mushtaq, originally written in Kannada between 1990 and 2023 and translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi — the first time a Kannada work has featured on the International Booker Prize list. In these stories, Mushtaq exquisitely captures the everyday lives of women and girls in Muslim communities in southern India, portraits of family and community tensions that draw on her years as a journalist and lawyer championing women's rights and protesting caste and religious oppression.

Courageous and filled with gentle, dry humour, the collection opens the door into worlds often kept private — sparky children, audacious grandmothers, buffoonish maulvis, thug brothers, and hapless husbands all move around the mothers at the heart of these stories, women surviving their feelings at great cost. Written in a style at once witty, vivid, colloquial, moving, and excoriating, the stories speak truth to power, slicing through the fault lines of caste, class, and religion to expose corruption, oppression, injustice, and violence — while never losing sight of solid storytelling, unforgettable characters, and vivid dialogue.

Critical Acclaim

Heart Lamp won the International Booker Prize 2025 and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize. The International Booker Prize judges praised the collection for exploring the lives of those often on the periphery of society in stories that hold immense emotional and moral weight. The English PEN Award selection panel highlighted Deepa Bhasthi's rich translation, noting how it captures the nuances of voice, context, and experience, bringing this important work to new readers in India and internationally.

Why Choose This Book?

• International Booker Prize winner: The first Kannada-language work to win the prize, marking a landmark moment for Indian literature in translation.
• A vital, unflinching voice: Banu Mushtaq draws on decades as a lawyer, journalist, and activist for women's and minority rights.
• Acclaimed translation: Deepa Bhasthi's translation has been celebrated for preserving the rhythm and accent of the original Kannada.
• Rich, character-driven storytelling: Twelve stories spanning three decades, filled with humor, heartbreak, and moral depth.
• Widely celebrated: Longlisted and shortlisted across major international literary prizes.

About the Author

Banu Mushtaq is a writer, lawyer, and social activist from Karnataka, India. She writes in Kannada and is the author of six short story collections, a novel, an essay collection, and a poetry collection, having won major literary honors including the Karnataka Sahitya Academy and the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe awards. Heart Lamp is the first book-length translation of her work into English.

Who Should Read This Book?

• Readers of international and translated literature
• Fans of the International Booker Prize shortlist and winners
• Anyone interested in stories centering women's lives in South Asian and Muslim communities
• Readers who appreciate short fiction with social and political depth
• Book club readers seeking thought-provoking, discussion-worthy stories

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Order now and bring home Heart Lamp: Selected Stories — an International Booker Prize–winning collection of resilience, humor, and unforgettable women.