Heart Lamp Lights Up The 2025 International Booker Prize

"On days when it was impossible for Shaziya to wake up in time for namaz, she would blame it on her high blood pressure, and had a habit of saying she had no peace because of those damn tablets. Her mother used to say 'All this is Shaitan's game. Shaitan comes early in the morning , presses your legs, drapes a blanket around you, pats you back to sleep and stops you from offering namaz. You must kick him away'," writes Banu Mushtaq in her collection of 12 short stories Heart Lamp that just made history as the 2025 International Booker Prize winner.

Written between 1990 and 2023, Heart Lamp’s 12 stories chronicle the lives of women and girls in patriarchal communities in southern India. A first for a Kannada-language work and a short story collection in history of International Booker Prize, Heart Lamp has taken the prize home. Not only a triumph for Indian literature, the power of translation and feminist storytelling.

In frame with copies of the short story of collection 'Heart Lamp', (L-R) Author Banu Mushtaq and Translator Deepa BhasthiThe Booker Prize

Heart Lamp translated by Deepa Bhasthi in English collects 12 of those stories, each one a jolt to the system as they highlight the lives of Muslim women in southern India, addressing issues of patriarchy, caste, and resilience. Stories like Red Lungi skewers class and gender during a mass circumcision event.

Black Cobras pits grieving women against institutionalised religion. The closer, Be a Woman Once, Oh Lord!, doesn't whisper, it roars!

"My stories are about women – how religion, society, and politics demand unquestioning obedience from them, and in doing so, inflict inhumane cruelty upon them, turning them into mere subordinates. The daily incidents reported in the media and the personal experiences I have endured have been my inspiration.

"The pain, suffering, and helpless lives of these women create a deep emotional response within me. I do not engage in extensive research; my heart itself is my field of study." said Banu Mushtaq at the award ceremony.

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Speaking about translation, something the International Booker Prize recognises and divides the winning prize (£50,000 prize money) equally between the author and the translator, Deepa Bhasthi said:

"For me, translation is an instinctive practice, and each book demands a completely different process. With Banu’s stories, I first read all the fiction she had published before I narrowed it down to the ones that are in Heart Lamp. I was lucky to have a free hand in choosing what stories I wanted to work with, and Banu did not interfere with the organised chaotic way I went about it."

The winning book was announced by bestselling Booker Prize-longlisted author Max Porter, Chair of the 2025 judges, at a ceremony at London’s Tate Modern on Tuesday, 20 May 2025. Chair of judges Max Porter called the book " radical in structure, radical in voice."

"This was the book the judges really loved, right from our first reading. It’s been a joy to listen to the evolving appreciation of these stories from the different perspectives of the jury. We are thrilled to share this timely and exciting winner of the International Booker Prize 2025 with readers around the world,” he added.

With Heart Lamp, Mushtaq has cracked open the door for a thousand other stories still waiting to be heard in other Indian languages in translation.