Leaders cutting across political parties in Karnataka, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Wednesday congratulated Kannada writer Banu Mushtaq for winning the International Booker Prize for her short story collection, Heart Lamp, and hailed her as the one who wrote about the true values of the land.
In the first collection of short stories to win the International Booker Prize, Mushtaq has written 12 stories about the lives of women in the patriarchal communities of South India.
“This is a moment of celebration for Kannada, Kannadigas, and Karnataka. Banu Mushtaq, who embodies and writes with the true values of this land, which are harmony, secularism, and brotherhood, has raised the flag of Kannada’s greatness on the international stage and brought honour to all of us,” Siddaramaiah said in a post on X Wednesday.
ಅಂತಾರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯ ಬೂಕರ್ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಪ್ರಶಸ್ತಿ ಪುರಸ್ಕೃತರಾಗಿರುವ ಕನ್ನಡದ ಹೆಮ್ಮೆಯ ಲೇಖಕಿ ಬಾನು ಮುಸ್ತಾಕ್ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಹೃತ್ಪೂರ್ವಕ ಅಭಿನಂದನೆಗಳು. ಇದು ಕನ್ನಡ, ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ ಮತ್ತು ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಸಂಭ್ರಮಿಸುವ ಹೊತ್ತು.
ಈ ನೆಲದ ಸೌಹಾರ್ದತೆ, ಜಾತ್ಯತೀತತೆ ಮತ್ತು ಸೋದರತ್ವದ ನಿಜ ಮೌಲ್ಯಗಳನ್ನು ಮೈಗೂಡಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಬರೆಯುತ್ತಿರುವ ಬಾನು ಮುಸ್ತಾಕ್ ಅವರು… pic.twitter.com/o4hjTNiQvR
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) May 21, 2025
The Karnataka chief minister also congratulated Deepa Bhasthi, who translated Mushtaq’s stories in the award-winning book.
Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H D Kumaraswamy said the award for Mushtaq was a moment of pride for Kannadigas.
“Congratulations also to author Deepa Bhasti for translating ‘Hrudaya Deepa’, the Booker Prize-winning book, into English. I hope Banu Mushtaq will produce more such great works. May the Kannada literary world be enriched by her and may the flavour of Kannada spread across the world,” he said.
Deputy CM D K Shivakumar wrote “Karnataka’s pride soars the skies”, and said the award was a matter of pride for the state.
BJP state president B Y Vijayendra said it was “a matter of pride for all Kannadigas that for the first time a Kannada work has won this prestigious award.” He wished her more contributions to the Kannada literary world to flourish on a global scale. He also expressed congratulations on behalf of Kannadigas to Deepa Bhasthi for translating her works into English.
In Heart Lamp, Mushtaq tells the story of the lives of women in the patriarchal communities of South India.
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“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 lost sacred spaces where we can live inside each other’s minds, if only for a few pages,” Mushtaq said after she won the world’s most influential award for translated fiction.
Max Porter, International Booker Prize 2025 Chair of judges, said, “Heart Lamp is 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. These beautiful, busy, life-affirming stories rise from Kannada, interspersed with the extraordinary socio-political richness of other languages and dialects. It speaks of women’s lives, reproductive rights, faith, caste, power and oppression”.
Mushtaq and Bhashti will share the £50,000 prize money equally.
Mushtaq is the second Indian author to win the International Booker Prize after Geetanjali Shree in 2022.