PVLF 2025

Banu Mushtaq Makes 2025 International Booker Shortlist

Banu Mushtaq's Heart Lamp joins five others on 2025 Booker shortlist, marking Kannada's debut in the prize’s history. Winner to be named May 20.
on Apr 11, 2025

The shortlist for the 2025 International Booker Prize, with six authors including India's Banu Mushtaq, has been revealed. Mushtaq is among the three authors shortlisted for their first English-language books.

The shortlisting of six authors was a historical first for the high-profile event. The shortlisted books are translated from five original languages for the first time, and Kannada is represented in it for the first time. The shortlist was unveiled on Tuesday (April 8).

Translated by Deepa Bhasthi, Mushtaq's Heart Lamp

is a collection of 12 stories. The volumes portrays the day-to-day lives of girls and women in Muslim society in southern India. The stories were first published in Kannada during 1990-2023.

Who is Banu Mushtaq?

Banu Mushtaq is a Karnataka-born writer, lawyer and activist. She has worked on six previous collections of short stories. Apart from these collections, her writings include a novel, an essay collection, as well as a collection of poems. Heart Lamp is her initial book-length contribution to be released in English translation.

The author has received several awards, some of which are the Karnataka Sahitya Academy prize. In addition to being released in English, Heart Lamp is also printed in Urdu, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam.

The Booker Prize committee characterized Heart Lamp as being about the lives of people who live on society's margins, with narratives that carry a lot of emotional and moral significance.

The novels shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize are:

1. A Leopard-Skin Hat by Anne Serre. The novel is about the narrator's passionate friendship with Fanny, a childhood companion who suffers from serious psychological illnesses.

2. Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq. A 12-short story collection that reflects the day-to-day lives of Muslim girls in southern India.

3. Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico. A sociological novel that investigates the void of modern life.

4. Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami. A speculative novel depicting a world in the future where the human species is on the verge of extinction.

5. Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix. The book is about the tragic real-life event when a migrant dinghy boat from France to the United Kingdom collided with a larger boat in the English Channel and 27 people drowned.

6. On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle. It is the first volume of a monumental septology. The narrative is about Tara Selter, who is slowly losing her hold on time, waking up each morning on the same day: November 18.

More than 154 books were submitted by publishers for this year’s International Booker Prize nomination. The winner will be announced at a ceremony at Tate Modern, London on May. 20.