Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp is a collection of 12 short stories that exquisitely capture the everyday lives of Muslim women in Karnataka.
Banu Mushtaq, a writer who talks about women’s lives, caste, power and oppression, has been awarded the International Booker Prize along with her translator Deepa Bhasthi for her book “Heart Lamp”.
1. First Kannada author to win booker prize
Karnataka-based Banu Mushtaq, 77, is the first Kannada author to win the annual Booker Prize given to the best English-translated fiction. Talking about this breathtaking moment, Mushtaq said, “This feels like a thousand fireflies lighting a single sky – brief, brilliant and utterly collective.”
Moreover, this is the second Indian book to win this international honour after Geetanjali Shree and translator Daisy Rockwell’s Tomb of Sand (Ret Samadhi) in 2022.
2. Advocacy of women’s rights
Apart from her life as an author Mushtaq is also known for her advocacy of women’s rights and her legal work questioning discrimination. Mushtaq says her stories reflect how religion, society and politics demand unquestioning obedience from women and in the process, inflict cruelty upon them. In her personal life as well, she fought the patriarchal norm and defied the social expectations by marrying a man of her choice.
3. Wrote her first short story in middle school
Her journey of writing began in middle school when she wrote her first short story. Though she started writing early on, it caught attention when her first story was published in the popular Kannada magazine Prajamata at the age of 26. Born in a large Muslim family she received enormous support from her father even against the authoritative nature of her school and when she fought against it.
4. Inspired from progressive movements
Mushtaq’s brilliant writing stems from the progressive movements in Karnataka, which inspired her works. She travelled across states and involved herself in the Bandaya Sahitya movement, a progressive protest that challenged cast and class oppression. Her engagement with the lives of the people who struggled gave her the strength to write.
5. Other works and recognitions
Other than this award winning work, she is the author of six short story collections, a novel, an essay collection and a poetry collection. For her work she has been recognised by the Karnataka Sahitya Academy and the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe awards. Further, her first five short stories have been compiled in one consolidated volume in 2013 called Haseena Matthu Ithara Kathegalu, and in 2023, a compilation called Hennu Haddina Swayamvara (2023).
The article originally appeared on Hindustan Times
