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5 days ago
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‘To write in Kannada is to inherit a legacy of cosmic wonder and earthly wisdom': Banu Mushtaq
On May 20, Banu Mushtaq became the first Kannada-language writer to win the International Booker Prize. She shared the £50,000 award with her translator Deepa Bhasthi – the first Indian translator to win the award – for Heart Lamp, a collection of her selected stories. Here are the texts of their acceptance speeches at the award cermony at Tate Modern, London. Banu Mushtaq If I may borrow a phrase from my own culture: this moment feels like a thousand fireflies lighting up a single sky – brief, brilliant, and utterly collective. To even stand among these extraordinary finalists is an honour I'll never forget. And I accept this great honour not as an individual, but as a voice raised in chorus with so many others. I am happy for the entire world which is full of diversity and inclusiveness. I am happy for myself and my translator Deepa Bhasthi. 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. First, to the Booker Prize committee – thank you for recognising stories that dare to bridge worlds. To my relentless team: my visionary literary agent, Kanishka Gupta, who believed in this book before it had a heartbeat; my translator, Deepa Bhasthi, who turned my words into bridges; and my publishers – especially Penguin Random House and And Other Stories – who sent these stories sailing across languages and borders. This is your victory too. And to my family, friends, and readers: you are the soil where my stories grow. This book is my love letter to the idea that no story is 'local' – that a tale born under a banyan tree in my village can cast shadows as far as this stage tonight. To every reader who journeyed with me: you've made my Kannada language a shared home. It is a language that sings of resilience and nuance. To write in Kannada is to inherit a legacy of cosmic wonder and earthly wisdom. 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. 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. To every reader who trusted me with their time: thank you for letting my words wander into your heart. Tonight isn't an endpoint – it's a torch passed. May it light the way for more stories from unheard corners, more translations that defy borders, and more voices that remind us: the universe fits inside every 'I'. Thank you, from the depths of my soul. Deepa Bhasthi Ellarigu Namaskara. Hello everyone. The story of the world, if you think about it, is really a history of erasures. It is characterised by the effacement of women's triumphs and the furtive rubbing away from collective memory of how women and those on the many margins of this world live and love. This Prize is a small win in a long, ongoing battle against such violences. Elsewhere, there is erasure, in the media, in people's understanding of works of literature, of translators and the work we do to bring what would otherwise be unread, uncelebrated texts to new and very different sets of readers. Which is why it is so heartening that the International Booker celebrates and places both writers and writer-translators on the same page, so to speak. Thank you first and foremost to the International Booker judges for loving these stories and my translation of them. And what a win this is for my beautiful language: Jenina holeyo, halina maleyo, sudheyo Kannada savi nudiyo, goes a song, calling the Kannada language a river of honey, a rain of milk, and compares it to sweet ambrosia. Kannada is one of the oldest languages on earth and I am ecstatic that this will hopefully lead to a greater interest in reading and writing and translating more from and into the language, and by extension, from and into the other magical languages we have in South Asia. Thank you to my incredible editor Tara Tobler, for sprinkling gold dust over my work. Thank you to the dream team at And Other Stories, to Stefan, Michael, and others. As also to the wonderful people back home, at Penguin Random House India, to Moutushi [Mukhrjee], Milee [Ashwarya], et all. Thank you to my wonderful agent Kanishka Gupta for… absolutely everything. The last few months would have been unmanageable without you. To Priya Mathew, to Farah Ali, friends old and new, thank you for the grace, for the sisterhood. Thank you to my parents Sudha and Prakash, who don't always understand why I do what I do, but cheer me on nonetheless. And most importantly, my husband Nan, the greatest love of my life, I miss you so much here tonight. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for what would I ever do without you! Play
Daily Tribune
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Tribune
Indian author wins International Booker for story collection
Indian writer, lawyer and activist Banu Mushtaq on Tuesday won the International Booker Prize for her short story collection 'Heart Lamp'. The 77-year-old is the first author of Kannada-language literature to receive the prestigious literary award for translated fiction. 'This moment feels like a thousand fire flies lighting a single sky -- brief, brilliant and utterly collective,' Mushtaq said at a ceremony at the Tate Modern gallery in London. 'I accept this great honour not as an individuals but as a voice raised in chorus with so many others.' Mushtaq will share the £50,000 ($67,000) prize with her translator Deepa Bhasthi, who also helped choose the stories. 'Heart Lamp' gathers 12 stories originally published between 1990 and 2023. They portray everyday life in Muslim communities of southern India, focusing on the experiences of women and girls. Critics praised the collection for its dry and gentle humour, its witty, colloquial style and its searing commentary on patriarchy, casteism and religious conservatism. Mushtaq, based in Karnataka state, southwest India, is known for her advocacy in women's rights and her legal work confronting discrimination. The jury hailed her characters -– from spirited grandmothers to bumbling religious clerics –- as 'astonishing portraits of survival and resilience'. '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,' she Porter, chair of th judges, hailed 'Heart Lamp' as 'something genuinely new for English readers.' 'A radical translation which ruffles language, to create new textures in a plurality of Englishes. It challenges and expands our understanding of translation.'
Gulf Today
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
Indian author Banu Mushtaq wins International Booker for story collection
Indian writer, lawyer and activist Banu Mushtaq on Tuesday won the International Booker Prize for her short story collection "Heart Lamp". The 77-year-old is the first author of Kannada-language literature to receive the prestigious literary award for translated fiction. "This moment feels like a thousand fire flies lighting a single sky -- brief, brilliant and utterly collective," Mushtaq said at a ceremony at the Tate Modern gallery in London. "I accept this great honour not as an individuals but as a voice raised in chorus with so many others." Mushtaq will share the £50,000 ($67,000) prize with her translator Deepa Bhasthi, who also helped choose the stories. "Heart Lamp" gathers 12 stories originally published between 1990 and 2023. They portray everyday life in Muslim communities of southern India, focusing on the experiences of women and girls. Critics praised the collection for its dry and gentle humour, its witty, colloquial style and its searing commentary on patriarchy, casteism and religious conservatism. Mushtaq, based in Karnataka state, southwest India, is known for her advocacy in women's rights and her legal work confronting discrimination. The jury hailed her characters -- from spirited grandmothers to bumbling religious clerics -- as "astonishing portraits of survival and resilience". "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," she said. Max Porter, chair of th judges, hailed "Heart Lamp" as "something genuinely new for English readers." "A radical translation which ruffles language, to create new textures in a plurality of Englishes. It challenges and expands our understanding of translation." Agence France-Presse
DW
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- DW
Who is International Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq? – DW – 05/21/2025
The 77-year-old Indian activist is the first Kannada-language author to win the award, which also recognizes the work of translators: Deepa Bhasthi also played a central role in the book's success. "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," author Banu Mushtaq said in her acceptance speech for the International Booker Prize, which she won for "Heart Lamp" on May 20. "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," the Indian writer added. The English-language translation of her book "Heart Lamp" (original title: "Hridaya Deepa") becomes the first short-story collection to win the prestigious prize for translated fiction. Mushtaq is also the first Kannada-language author to win the award. The Booker jury describes Mushtaq's writing as "at once witty, vivid, moving and excoriating, building disconcerting emotional heights out of a rich spoken style. It's in her characters — the sparky children, the audacious grandmothers, the buffoonish maulvis [a learned teacher or doctor of Islamic law, Editor's note] and thug brothers, the oft-hapless husbands, and the mothers above all, surviving their feelings at great cost — that she emerges as an astonishing writer and observer of human nature." Drawing from her own experience of despair But before landing in the international spotlight, there were also moments in the now 77-year-old writer's life that were so dark that she no longer wanted to live. She recalled in a recent interview with Indian magazine The Week that she once poured white petrol on herself and was ready to set herself on fire. Her husband managed to persuade her out of doing it by placing their baby at her feet, saying, "Don't abandon us." "I realized then what a terrible thing I was about to do. Looking back, it might have been post-partum depression. But it felt deeper, heavier ― like something inside me was breaking." As a new mother recovering from post-partum depression, she turned to writing to explore what she was going through. "Everything in my stories is somewhat autobiographical. That experience made me more empathetic," she concluded. 'Heart Lamp' is a collection of 12 short stories written by Mushtaq between 1990 and 2023 Image: And Other Stories Verlag A rare female voice in Karnataka's 'Rebel Literature' Mushtaq was born in 1948 into a Muslim family in Karnataka, a state in the southwestern region of India. Defying her community's conventions, she attended university and married for love at age 26. During the 1980s, Mushtaq got involved in Karnataka's growing social movements that aimed to abolish caste and class hierarchies. All while learning about social structures and the plight of marginalized communities, she supported her family by working as a reporter for a local tabloid, and a decade later, she became a lawyer. As a Muslim woman lawyer with deep roots in her community, she developed a unique voice in her short stories, building in her own spirit of resistance and resilience in her female characters. She emerged as one of the rare female voices to significantly contribute to Bandaya Sahitya (Rebel Literature), a literary movement that emerged in Karnataka as a protest against social injustices. Women at a polling station in Karnataka, the southern Indian state where Banu Mushtaq found her voice as a writer and activist Image: MANJUNATH KIRAN/AFP Target of a fatwa and threats Her activism and writing has however made her the target of hostility and threats. In an interview with The Hindu, she recalls the severe backlash she faced for advocating for Muslim women's right to enter mosques in 2000. A fatwa — a legal decree under Islamic law — was issued against her, and a man once attempted to attack her with a knife. Despite the dangers, Mushtaq nevertheless pursues her work as an activist and a writer. "I have consistently challenged chauvinistic religious interpretations," she told The Week magazine. "These issues are central to my writing even now. Society has changed a lot, but the core issues remain the same. Even though the context evolves, the basic struggles of women and marginalized communities continue." "Heart Lamp" is a collection of 12 short stories written by Mushtaq between 1990 and 2023. Her oeuvre includes six short story collections, a novel, a poetry compilation and numerous essays. Found in translation with Deepa Bhasthi The International Booker Prize recognizes the essential work of translators, with the prize money of £50,000 (€60,000, $67,000) divided equally between the authors and translators. Banu Mushtaq and her translator, right, Deepa Bhasthi Image: Alberto Pezzali/AP Photo/picture alliance In this case, translator Deepa Bhasthi also served as an editor of the book, having selected the stories for the collection: "I was lucky to have a free hand in choosing what stories I wanted to work with, and Banu did not interfere with the organized chaotic way I went about it," she told the Booker Prizes organizers. The jury particularly praised Deepa Bhasthi's skilful translation as "something genuinely new for English readers. A radical translation which ruffles language, to create new textures in a plurality of Englishes. It challenges and expands our understanding of translation." Mushtaq's first language is actually Urdu. She started learning Kannada, Karnataka's official state language, at the age of eight when she was enrolled in a convent school by her father. It became the language she chose for her literary work. But her writing reflects the linguistic diversity of her region, often blending Kannada with Dakhni Urdu (a mix of Urdu, Kannada, Marathi and Telugu). She sees using colloquial language as not just a medium of communication, but a tool for cultural expression and resistance. The English translation conveys the original approach, combining different languages, as Bhasthi retains several Kannada, Urdu and Arabic words. It is estimated that Kannada is spoken by 65 million people. Last year, it became the 53rd language of Vatican Radio. But like many other Indian languages, Kannada has often been sidelined in favor of English or Hindi in India's publishing industry. Mushtaq's success disrupts that trend, contributing to increased funding and translation efforts for other regional works, especially those by women and marginalized writers. Edited by: Brenda Haas
DW
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- DW
Indian author, translator win International Booker Prize – DW – 05/21/2025
Banu Mushtaq is the first author of Kannada-language literature to receive the award for translated fiction. Her short story collection "Heart Lamp" was written over 30-years. Banu Mushtaq, the Indian writer and activist, was awarded the International Booker Prize on Tuesday for her short story collection "Heart Lamp," the first Kannada-language author to win the prize for translated fiction. The 77-year-old Mushtaq will share the £50,000 ($67,000, €59,300) prize with her translator Deepa Bhasthi, who also helped with picking the stories featured in the award-winning collection. This marks the first time that a collection of short stories receives the award. It also makes Bhasthi the first Indian translator to win the prize in its current form, adopted in 2016. The annual International Booker Prize is run alongside the Booker Prize for English-language fiction, but the latter is handed out in the fall. Max Porter hails 'Heart Lamp' The award ceremony was held at London's Tate Modern Museum, and announced by bestselling Booker Prize-longlisted author Max Porter, who chairs the five-member voting panel. Porter hailed "Heart Lamp" as "something genuinely new for English readers." "These beautiful, busy, life-affirming stories rise from Kannada, interspersed with the extraordinary socio-political richness of other languages and dialects," said Porter. "It speaks of women's lives, reproductive rights, faith, caste, power and oppression." Mushtaq calls her win 'utterly collective' During her acceptance speech, Mushtaq described the award as a "great honor," saying she was receiving it "not as an individual but as a voice raised in chorus with so many others." "This moment feels like a thousand fireflies lighting a single sky -- brief, brilliant and utterly collective," she said. Kannada is spoken by some 65 million people, primarily in southern India. Mushtaq wrote the short stories featured in the collection between 1990 and 2023. Bhasthi's curation and translation was keen to preserve the multilingual nature of southern India. The collection was critically praised for its dry and gentle humor, witty style and commentary on issues such as patriarch, casteism and religious conservatism. Edited by: Louis Oelofse
