Context:
Kannada writer and activist Banu Mushtaq, along with translator Deepa Bhasthi, won the 2025 International Booker Prize for Heart Lamp. This is the first short story collection ever to receive this award.
More on the news:
Heart Lamp is a set of 12 short stories written by Banu Mushtaq over the years from 1990 to 2023.
Deepa Bhasthi translated the book into English, highlighting the struggles and strength of Muslim women facing pressures from religion, society, and patriarchy.
- Deepa Bhasthi is the first translator from India to win the International Booker Prize. She also won the English PEN’s ‘PEN Translates’ award for the same work in 2024.
This is the second time a Kannada author has received recognition from the Booker Prize. (First Kannada author being U. R. Ananthamurthy in 2013 for his body of work.)
About Booker Prize
- The Booker Prize is a highly respected literary award that began in 1969.
- The award is presented each year for the best original novel written in English and published in the UK or Ireland.
- In 2005, the International Booker Prize was started to recognise both authors and translators of fiction translated into English.
- The International Booker Prize offers £50,000 in prize money, which is equally shared between the writer and the translator.
Indians who have won the Booker Prize
| Year | Author | Work |
| 1971 | V.S. Naipaul | In a Free State |
| 1981 | Salman Rushdie | Midnight’s Children |
| 1997 | Arundhati Roy | The God of Small Things |
| 2006 | Kiran Desai | The Inheritance of Loss |
| 2008 | Aravind Adiga | The White Tiger |
| 2022 | Geetanjali Shree | Tomb of Sand |
| 2025 | Banu Mushtaq | Heart Lamp |