In a milestone moment for global literature, Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, has won the prestigious International Booker Prize 2025. And here’s the best part for Sri Lankan readers: it’s coming soon to Sarasavi Bookshops. As the first-ever Kannada-language book – and the first short story collection – to win the prize, Heart Lamp is a triumph of storytelling, translation, and feminist literature. It’s a dazzling achievement that places regional Indian literature on the global stage.
Why Did Heart Lamp Win?
Chair of the 2025 jury, Max Porter, summed it up best: “Heart Lamp is something genuinely new for English readers. A radical translation which ruffles language to create new textures in a plurality of Englishes.” It’s not just about storytelling – it’s about reshaping the very essence of language and literature.
The book dives deep into the everyday lives of women and girls in patriarchal communities across southern India, with each of the 12 stories steeped in lived experience and emotional depth. The judges were struck by its socio-political relevance, its fearless examination of caste, gender, faith, and oppression – all through characters who are funny, flawed, and fiercely human.
What is Heart Lamp About?
Spanning stories originally written between 1990 and 2023, Heart Lamp chronicles the survival, struggle, and spirit of women navigating life in deeply conservative and caste-ridden societies. Mushtaq writes with wit and rage, humor and heartbreak – bringing to life sparky children, resilient grandmothers, thuggish brothers, and mothers whose inner worlds blaze with quiet fire.
Every page crackles with emotional authenticity, often rooted in Mushtaq’s own experiences as a women’s rights activist and lawyer in Karnataka. Her stories don’t just tell – they witness, resist, and illuminate.
Who Are Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi?
Banu Mushtaq is no stranger to protest or literature. Emerging from the Bandaya Sahitya movement – a radical protest movement of Dalit and Muslim writers in southern India – she was one of the few women to raise her voice in a fiercely male-dominated space.
Her bibliography spans six short story collections, a novel, essays, and poetry. She’s been honored with the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award and the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe Award. But Heart Lamp marks her English-language debut – and what a debut it is.
Deepa Bhasthi, the translator, is a writer and cultural critic based in Kodagu. Her previous work includes translations of iconic Kannada authors like Kota Shivarama Karanth and Kodagina Gouramma. With Heart Lamp, Bhasthi becomes the first Indian translator to win the International Booker Prize. Her philosophy of “translating with an accent” honors the original rhythm and dialect of the stories while crafting a fresh, rich reading experience in English.
What Makes Heart Lamp a Masterpiece?
Each story walks the tightrope between the personal and political. Mushtaq exposes the rot beneath the surface of society – injustice, violence, corruption – but always with literary finesse. The stories may seem simple on the surface, but they carry immense moral and emotional weight.
From scenes of bitter domesticity to musings on language itself (as in the brilliantly layered opening story), Mushtaq makes readers question power, patriarchy, and societal roles.
As the judges put it: “Deceptively simple, these stories hold immense emotional, moral, and socio-political weight, urging us to dig deeper.”
What Have Critics Said?
- Financial Times: “These deceptively simple tales decry the subjugation of women while celebrating their resilience.”
- Vogue India: “Recognition by a wider audience for this major literary voice is long overdue.”
- The Guardian: “This wonderful collection would be a worthy winner, though history is against it: stories have never taken the prize before.”
- The Week: “It reads as if one is inside the home, as a silent spectator, as events unfold.”
A Glimpse Into the Book
The very first lines of Heart Lamp set the tone:
“From the concrete jungle… people with no love for one another, no mutual trust… I had desperately wanted to be free from such a suffocating environment.”
Right from the beginning, readers are drawn into a narrative that’s as philosophical as it is personal, as humorous as it is hard-hitting.
Coming Soon to Sarasavi!
If you’re hungry for a book that challenges, delights, and enlightens – Heart Lamp is the one to watch for. It’s a literary firestarter and a landmark in translation history. And yes, it’s coming soon to Sarasavi Bookshops across Sri Lanka.
Stay tuned. The lamp is about to light up your shelf.
