Banu Mushtaq’s ‘Heart Lamp’ Bags International Booker Prize 2025

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Last Updated:May 21, 2025, 08:15 IST

International Booker Prize 2025 Winner: Banu Mushtaq won the prize for a postulation of 12 abbreviated stories written implicit a play of much than 30 years.

Author Banu Mushtaq (left) and translator Deepa Bhasthi with their International Booker victor Heart Lamp.

International Booker Prize 2025 Winner: Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi won the International Booker Prize for fabrication Tuesday for “Heart Lamp," a postulation of 12 abbreviated stories written implicit a play of much than 30 years and which chronicle the mundane lives and struggles of women successful confederate India.

The grant was announced by bestselling Booker Prize-longlisted writer Max Porter successful his relation arsenic seat of the five-member voting panel, astatine a ceremonial astatine London’s Tate Modern.

It is the archetypal clip the grant has been fixed to a postulation of abbreviated stories. Bhasthi is the archetypal Indian translator — and ninth pistillate translator — to triumph the prize since it took connected its existent signifier successful 2016. Mushtaq is the sixth pistillate writer to beryllium awarded the prize since then.

Written successful Kannada, which is spoken by astir 65 cardinal people, chiefly successful confederate India, Porter praised the “radical" quality of the translation, adding that “It’s been a joy" to perceive to the evolving appreciation of the stories by members of the jury.

“These beautiful, busy, life-affirming stories emergence from Kannada, interspersed with the bonzer socio-political richness of different languages and dialects," said Porter. "It speaks of women’s lives, reproductive rights, faith, caste, powerfulness and oppression."

The book, which bushed 5 different finalists, comprises stories written from 1990 to 2023. They were selected and curated by Bhasthi, who was keen to sphere the multilingual quality of confederate India successful her translation.

Mushtaq, who is simply a lawyer and activistic arsenic good arsenic writer, told a abbreviated database speechmaking lawsuit connected Sunday that the stories “are astir women – however religion, nine and authorities request unquestioning obedience from them, and successful doing so, inflict inhumane cruelty upon them, turning them into specified subordinates."

The 50,000-pound ($66,000) prize wealth is to beryllium divided arsenic betwixt writer and translator. Each is presented with a trophy too.

The International Booker Prize is awarded each year. It is tally alongside the Booker Prize for English-language fiction, which volition beryllium handed retired successful the fall.

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