‘Every story is a universe': International Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq's heartfelt speech honours her readers
It is a triumphant moment for Indian literature as Heart Lamp, a haunting and intimate collection of short stories by Banu Mushtaq, translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi, won the International Booker Prize 2025. It is noteworthy that this is only the second time in five years that an Indian-language work has claimed the prestigious award, following Geetanjali Shree's Tomb of Sand, translated by Daisy Rockwell, which won in 2022. But Heart Lamp brings something entirely new: it is the first short story collection to win the prize — a resounding recognition of the form's power, and of the often-silenced stories of women from India's heartland.
Originally written in Kannada, Heart Lamp was selected and translated by Deepa, who became the first Indian translator to win the International Booker. The book comprises 12 stories, chosen from over 50 written by Mushtaq over three decades. Each piece is a lens into the lives of women negotiating autonomy, tradition, pain, and resistance in deeply patriarchal communities.
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Bhasthi's sensitive translation does more than carry Mushtaq's words into English — it carries their spirit. She described the win as a 'collective moment' for regional Indian languages and hopes it will inspire more translations from Kannada and other South Asian tongues.
In her powerful acceptance speech, Mushtaq reflected on the role of literature in bridging human experience: 'This is more than a personal achievement, it is an affirmation that we as individuals and as a global community can thrive when we embrace diversity, celebrate our differences and uplift one another. Together, we create a world where every voice is heard, every story matters and every person belongs.'
'This book was born from the belief that no story is ever small; that in the tapestry of human experience, every thread holds the weight of the whole,' she said. 'In a world that often tries to divide us, literature remains one of the last sacred spaces where we can live inside each other's minds, if only for a few pages,' she further said.
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Mushtaq also expressed deep gratitude to her readers, describing them as the nurturing ground where her stories found life. 'This book is my love letter to the idea that no story is local or small…' She showered praises on the Kannada language too — 'to write in Kannada is to inherit a legacy of cosmic wonder and earthly wisdom,' she said.
Mushtaq's journey to literary recognition has been anything but easy. Born and raised in a Muslim neighbourhood in a small town in Karnataka, she studied the Quran in Urdu but was enrolled by her father in a Kannada-medium convent school at the age of eight — a decision that would shape her life's path. While Kannada was not her native language, it would become the one in which she chose to write.
Mushtaq began writing as a teenager and pursued a college education while many of her peers were falling into early marriages. Her first story was published only after she married at 26, following a love match that soon became fraught with conflict.
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In interviews, Mushtaq has spoken with unflinching honesty about those early years, of being confined to domestic duties, suffering postpartum depression, and the emotional isolation of marriage. One particularly harrowing account details a moment when, in despair, she nearly self-immolated, only to be stopped by her husband's last-minute intervention. 'I had always wanted to write but had nothing to write (about) because suddenly, after a love marriage, I was told to wear a burqa and dedicate myself to domestic work,' she told Vogue India.
In The Week, she also added how she was forced to live a life confined within the four walls of my house. And it is out of these walls — and against them — that Heart Lamp was born.
With Heart Lamp, Banu Mushtaq has achieved something rare: she has turned deeply personal stories into universal literature. Her characters now stand at the centre of one of the world's most prestigious literary stages. This win is not just a victory for Mushtaq and Bhasthi. It is a victory for short fiction, for Kannada literature, and for the countless women whose lives have long gone unwritten or untranslated.
As the literary world celebrates this historic win, Heart Lamp becomes more than a book. It becomes a beacon — one that lights up the power of stories to heal, resist, and endure.
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