Banu Mushtaq

Banu Mushtaq (born 3 April 1948) is an Indian Kannada-language writer, activist, and lawyer from Karnataka. She is best known for ''Heart Lamp'', a selection of her short stories translated by Deepa Bhasthi, which won the International Booker Prize in 2025. She has published six short story collections, a novel, an essay collection, and a poetry collection. Her work has been translated into Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and English.

Personal life and activism

Banu Mushtaq was born into a Muslim family in Hassan, Karnataka, on 3 April 1948. When she was eight years old, Mushtaq was enrolled in a Kannada-language missionary school in Shivamogga, on the condition that she must learn "to read and write Kannada in six months"; she exceeded expectations by beginning to write after a few days of school.

In contrast to community expectations, she attended university and married for love at the age of 26.

She was a reporter for the newspaper ''Lankesh Patrike'' and, for some months, she worked for All India Radio in Bengaluru.

Since the 1980s, Mushtaq has been involved in activist movements working to undermine "fundamentalism and social injustices" in Karnataka.

In 2000, a three-month "social boycott" was announced against Mushtaq and her family in response to her "advocacy of the right of Muslim women to enter mosques". During that time, she received menacing telephone calls and a man attempted to stab her but was thwarted by her husband.

In the early 2000s, Mushtaq joined the civil society group Komu Souhardha Vedike in protesting efforts to prevent Muslims from visiting a syncretic shrine in Baba Budangiri, Chikmagalur district.

Mushtaq has supported the right of Muslim students to wear hijab in schools, which has been challenged in Karnataka.

She speaks Kannada, Hindi, Dakhni Urdu, and English.

Writing

Mushtaq was interested in writing from a young age, but did not become a writer until the age of 29, as a new mother suffering from postpartum depression. Mushtaq turned to writing to explore her feelings and experiences. Much of her writing looks at women's issues.

Mushtaq has published six collections of short stories, a novel, a collection of essays and a collection of poetry. Her work has been translated into Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam, as well as, very recently, English. Her story ''Karinaagaragalu'' was adapted into the 2003 Kannada film '' Hasina'' by Girish Kasaravalli.''

''Heart Lamp''

Mushtaq's first full-length book to be translated into English was '' Heart Lamp: Selected Stories'' (published by And Other Stories, 2025), a selection of women-centred stories set in Muslim communities in southern India. The translator, Deepa Bhasthi, began translating Mushtaq's work into English in 2022. Bhasthi selected the volume's twelve stories from the six collections Mushtaq had published between 1990 and 2023.

In May 2025, ''Heart Lamp'' won the 2025 International Booker Prize. Mushtaq was the first Kannada-language writer to have their work nominated for the prize. Deepa Bhasthi was the first Indian translator to win the prize and this was the first short story collection ever to win the prize.

The stories in the collection reflect Mushtaq's life as a journalist and lawyer, with a focus on women's rights and resistance to caste and religious injustice in her part of the country.

Chair of the Booker International judges Max Porter said that although the stories are feminist, and "contain extraordinary accounts of patriarchal systems and resistance", first and foremost they are "beautiful accounts of everyday life and particularly the lives of women". ''The Guardian'' commented that the "tone varies from quiet to comic, but the vision is consistent" and called it a "wonderful collection".

Awards and recognition

* 1999: Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award
* Daana Chintamani Attimabbe Award
* 2024: PEN English Translate Award, for Deepa Bhasthi's translation of ''Haseena and Other Stories''
* 2025: International Booker Prize for ''Heart Lamp'', translated by Deepa Bhasthi

Publications

* ''ಹಸೀನಾ ಮತ್ತು ಇತರ ಕಥೆಗಳು'' [] (compilation, Abhiruchi Prakashana, 2013) ,
**''Haseena and Other Stories'' (translated by Deepa Bhasthi, 2024)
*'' Heart Lamp: Selected Stories'' (compilation, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, And Other Stories, 2025),

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mushtaq, Banu
1948 births
Living people
20th-century Indian short story writers
20th-century Indian women writers
21st-century Indian short story writers
21st-century Indian women writers
Activists from Karnataka
Indian women activists
Indian Muslims
Kannada-language writers
People from Hassan
People with mood disorders
Writers from Karnataka