Banu Musthaq’s Heart Lamp wins 2025 International Booker Prize

Banu Mushtaq has become the second Indian, after Geetanjali Shree, to win the International Booker Prize. Banu Mushraq’s short story collection “Heart Lamp,” originally written in Kannada as Hridya Deepa and translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi, won the prestigious literary prize.

Deepa Bhasthi is also the first Indian translator to win the International Booker.

Geetanjali Shree was the first Indian to win the International Booker Prize in 2022 for her book Ret Samadhi, written in Hindi and translated into English as Tomb of Sand by Daisy Rockwell.

The £50,000 prize money was conferred to Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi in a ceremony in London, England. Both Banu Mushraq and Deepa Bhasthi will equally share the prize money.

The International Booker Prize is given to a book written in any language except English and translated into English.

About the Hridya Deepa or Heart of the Lamp 

The Heart of Lamp is the English name of the Hridya Deepa, a collection of 12 short stories written by Banu Mushtaq in the Kannada language between 1990 and 2023. 

The stories are based on the lives of women and girls and their struggles in a patriarchal society of Karnataka.

Banu Mushtaq, who is a lawyer by profession, based her stories on the women who came to her seeking help.

She champions the cause of women's rights and is against caste and religious oppression in India. 

Shortlisted Book for the International Booker Prize 

The Heart Lamp was one of the six books finally shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize. 

These books are:

• A Leopard Skin Hat -Anne Serre (French)
• Perfection - Vincenzo Latronico (Italian)
• Under the Eye of the Big Bird- Hiromi Kawakami (Japanese)
• Small Boat -Vincent Delecroix (French)
• On the Calculation of Volume 1- Solvej Balle (Danish)
• Heart Lamp - Banu Mushtaq

About the International Booker Prize 

The International Booker Prize was instituted by the Booker Prize Foundation in 2004.

The prize is given to a book that was originally written in a non-English language but translated into English.

The translated English version shall be published in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland.

It was given every two years, but since 2016, it has been given annually.

The first Indian to receive the award was Geetanjali Shree in 2022 for her book Ret Samadhi or Tomb of Sand.

About the Booker Prize 

The Booker Prize is different from the International Booker Prize. 

The Booker Prize, instituted in 1968, is awarded to the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland.

It is given annually.

First Awardee: Something to Answer For, written by P.H. Newby in 1969.

Indian winner of the Booker Prize 

• Arundhati Roy for her book The God of Small Things, in 1997.
• Kiran Desai for her book "The Inheritance of Loss" in 2006.
• Aravind Adiga for his book "The White Tiger" in 2008.