Indian writer, female activist Banu Mushtaq made history by winning the International Booker Award for the short story compilation, heart lamps in 2025. It is the first short-story collection and Kannada book to win the honor in London on Tuesday. The stories of heart lamps written in Kannada language were translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi. He was also awarded the International Booker Award with author Mushtaq.
According to the Booker Award website, Heart Lamp is a collection of 12 short stories that describe the daily lives of women and girls in the patriarchal communities of South India. This collection of 12 stories has been spread over more than 30 years, which has been written between 1990 and 2023. Six short-story collections, a novel, a novel, a novel collection and a poem collection. According to the Bukar Awards website, the writer who specializes in Kannada language has won the leading awards including Karnataka Sahitya Akademi and Dana Chintamani Awards for her literary works, with the winning of the Ati. The Booker has become the second Indian writer to win the award, while the heart lamp book is the first winner to be translated from Kannada. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also congratulated writer Mushtaq on winning the International Booker Award 2025 on Wednesday.
Max Porter, the chairman of the judges of the International Booker Award 2025, praised the book and described the appreciation of the book from various perspectives of the jury as unprecedented. MaxPorter said, “It is a pleasure to listen to the increasing appreciation of these stories from different perspectives of the jury.