Meet Banu Mushtaq: First Kannada Author To Win International Booker Prize For ‘Heart Lamp’

In a historical second for Indian literature, 77-year-old Kannada author, attorney, and activist Banu Mushtaq has gained the International Booker Prize for her brief tale assortment Heart Lamp. She is the primary Kannada writer to obtain this prestigious award. The guide contains 12 tales that spotlight the day-to-day lives and demanding situations of Muslim ladies in Karnataka over a length of 30 years, from 1990 to 2023.

Deepa Bhasthi, who translated the gathering into English, additionally won the International Booker Prize along side Banu Mushtaq. With this win, Mushtaq turns into a part of a prominent crew of Indian authors who’ve won the distinguished award since it all started in 1969. This listing contains V.S. Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, Aravind Adiga, and Geetanjali Shree.

Who is Banu Mustaq?

Banu Mushtaq, who comes from Hassan in Karnataka, wrote her first brief tale when she used to be in center faculty. She received consideration within the literary global when her first tale used to be printed on the age of 26 in the preferred Kannada mag Prajamata. According to her profile on The Booker Prize website online, she has written six collections of brief tales, a unique, a selection of essays, and a guide of poetry.

In an interview with the Booker Prize Foundation, Mushtaq shared that her inspiration got here from the Dalit motion, farmers’ motion, language motion, ladies’s struggles, and environmental activism within the 1970s, all of which she skilled whilst rising up in Karnataka.

Banu Mustaq and her writings

In Heart Lamp, the feminine characters replicate a robust spirit of resistance and resilience. Mushtaq later labored as a reporter for a well known native tabloid and used to be concerned with the Bandaya motion, which fascinated with combating social and financial injustices thru literature and activism. After a decade in journalism, she left the sphere and become a attorney to fortify her circle of relatives.

Over her lengthy and prominent occupation, she has printed a big frame of labor, together with six brief tale collections, a unique, and an essay assortment. However, her sharp and robust writing has additionally made her a goal of hatred.

Besides her award-winning paintings, she has written six brief tale collections, a unique, an essay assortment, and a poetry assortment. She has won popularity from the Karnataka Sahitya Academy and the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe awards for her contributions. Additionally, her first 5 brief tales had been printed in combination in one quantity titled Haseena Matthu Ithara Kathegalu in 2013, and in 2023, every other assortment known as Hennu Haddina Swayamvara used to be launched.