Booker prize for ‘Heart Lamp’ is a defining moment for India’s vernacular literature which has been on sidelines for long

In a watershed moment for Indian regional literature, ‘Heart Lamp,’ a short story collection by Banu Mushtaq, translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi, has won the 2025 International Booker Prize. This is the first time a Kannada literary work has received this prestigious honour, making it not only a personal triumph for the author and translator but also a landmark moment for Indian vernacular literature on the global stage. ‘Heart Lamp’ is a piercing and poetic collection that centres on the lives of women navigating the grip of patriarchy. The stories are deeply rooted in the spirit of the Bandaya Sahitya movement — a literary rebellion that began in the........

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