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Banu Mushtaq

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Banu Mushtaq

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1948-04-03 （Hassan, Mysore State, Dominion of India (now Hassan, Karnataka, India)）
Nationality
India
Languages
Kannada, Dakhni Urdu, Hindi, English
Religion
Islam

Career

Occupations
Writer, Activist, Lawyer
Active Years
1977-

Awards

Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award
1999
Organization: Karnataka Sahitya Academy
Result: 受賞
Daana Chintamani Attimabbe Award
Organization: Daana Chintamani Attimabbe Award committee
Result: 受賞
PEN English Translate Award
2024
Work: Haseena and Other Stories (translated by Deepa Bhasthi)
Organization: English PEN
Result: 受賞（翻訳賞、翻訳者に対して）
International Booker Prize
2025
Work: Heart Lamp: Selected Stories (translated by Deepa Bhasthi)
Organization: The Booker Prizes
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Heart Lamp: Selected Stories

2025 Short story collection

A selection of women-centred stories set in Muslim communities in southern India, drawing on the author's experience as a lawyer and journalist to explore everyday life and resistance to social and religious injustice.

Women's rightsReligion and identityCaste and social injusticeResistance and everyday life
Translations
  • English (translated by Deepa Bhasthi)

Haseena and Other Stories (original: Hasīna mattu itara kathegaḷu)

2013 Short story collection

A collection of short stories about the daily lives and struggles of Muslim women; several stories have been adapted to film and translated into other languages.

Female perspectivesReligion and traditionSocial exclusion
Adaptations
  • [Film] Hasina / Girish Kasaravalli (2003)
Translations
  • Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Malayalam, English (partial or full translations)

Bibliography

  • Hasīna mattu itara kathegaḷu (Haseena and Other Stories, 2013)
  • Heart Lamp: Selected Stories (translated by Deepa Bhasthi, 2025)

Adaptations

  • Film 'Hasina' (2003) adapted from the story 'Karinaagaragalu', directed by Girish Kasaravalli

Translations of Works

  • Translations into Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and English (2024–2025 for major English translations)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Restrained, observational proseSocial realismDetailed psychological portraits from women's perspectives
Recurring Motifs
Details of everyday lifeResistance to patriarchyConflict with religious and social institutionsConcern with law and justice

Health

  • Postpartum depression (mood disorder)
    30歳前後（作家活動開始の契機となった時期）
    Prompted her turn to writing and influenced themes in her work; personal experience informed her fiction.

Legacy

Banu Mushtaq is a Kannada-language writer known for centring Muslim women's perspectives. She became the first Kannada writer to win the International Booker Prize in 2025 for the English translation of Heart Lamp. Her work elevated the international profile of regional literature and foregrounded women and minority voices.

In Popular Culture

  • Film adaptation 'Hasina' (2003)
  • Media attention and celebrations following the 2025 International Booker Prize win
  • Political controversy since 2025 related to invitation to Mysore Dasara events

Quotes

  • "Active politicians should have a sense of what to politicise and what not to."
    Source: The Hindu (interview) (2025)

Trivia

  • In 2025 she became the first Kannada-language writer to win the International Booker Prize for Heart Lamp.
  • Translator Deepa Bhasthi became the first Indian translator to win the prize.
  • Heart Lamp was the first short story collection to win the International Booker Prize.
  • She previously worked as a reporter for Lankesh Patrike and briefly for All India Radio.
  • In 2000 her advocacy for Muslim women's right to enter mosques led to a social boycott and threats, including an attempted stabbing.