Deepa Bhasthi (born 1983) is an Indian writer, translator and journalist from the southern

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. She gained international recognition for her translation of the short story collection ''

Heart Lamp ''Heart Lamp: Selected Stories'' is a collection of short stories by Indian writer Banu Mushtaq, originally written in Kannada between 1990 and 2023 and translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi. Published by And Other Stories in the UK on 10 Se ...

'' by

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 ...

, for which, in 2025, she became the first translator from India to win the

International Booker Prize The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize, as the Boo ...

Life

Deepa Bhasthi was born in

Madikeri Madikeri (), earlier called as Mercara is city and headquarters of Kodagu district in the Karnataka state of India. It is recognised as one of the world's eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site ...

, Karnataka, in 1983. She attributes her love for literature to her paternal grandfather, who died six months before she was born and left her an extensive collection of books, including important works of Russian classics. After finishing school, she initially studied natural sciences but later switched to commerce and graduated with a bachelor's degree from Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa College in

Kodagu Kodagu district () (also known by its former name Coorg) is an administrative List of districts of Karnataka, district in the Karnataka state of India. Before 1956, it was an administratively separate Coorg State at which point it was merged ...

. She then earned a degree in journalism from

Mangalore University Mangalore University commonly known as, MU is a public university in Konaje, Mangaluru, Karnataka, India. In 2021, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) awarded Mangalore University 'B' grade. As on 2024, Prof. P L Dharma took ...

and went on to work as a journalist for various print media outlets in Bangalore. As a journalist, she has had essays, columns and critiques published in more than 40 Indian and overseas newspapers and magazines. During her career as a journalist, Bhasthi specialised in arts journalism and eventually became a columnist and founding editor of ''The Forager'' magazine, which explores the political significance of food. In 2016, she teamed up with three other creatives to found the Forager Collective, which examines social issues such as economics, politics and culture through the lens of food. After a few years, she returned to her hometown of Madikeri with her husband, artist and farmer Chettira Sujan Nanaiah. There they live a quiet life on a farm with five dogs.

Work

Deepa Bhasthi has gained international recognition for her literary translation work. Her English translation of

's short story collection ''

'', which she completed over four months of intensive work, earned her and the author the

in 2025. The jury praised the translation as "something genuinely new", a radical translation that "challenges and expands our understanding of translation". In her translations, Bhasthi pursues an approach she herself describes as "translating with an accent", whereby her texts deliberately retain the cultural and historical characteristics of the original language in order to ensure authenticity. In addition to Mushtaq's works, she has also translated prominent authors such as Kodagina Gowramma, a feminist pioneer of

Kannada literature Kannada literature is the Text corpus, corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, which is spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script. Attestations in literature span one and a half millennia, R.S. ...

, and Kota Shivarama Karanth. In addition to her work as a translator, Bhasthi is also a children's book author. Her book ''Champi and the Fig Tree'' was published in 2025.

Awards and recognition

* 2024: PEN English Translate Award, for her translation of Banu Mushtaq's ''Haseena and Other Stories'' * 2025:

for ''Heart Lamp'', shared with Banu Mushtaq

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhasthi, Deepa Living people 1983 births Indian translators Indian writers