‘Heart Lamp’ Stories to Release in Kannada After Booker Win

After winning the 2025 International Booker, ‘Heart Lamp’ stories will be released in Kannada, boosting demand for Banu Mushtaq’s original collection.

on May 26, 2025

‘Heart Lamp’ Stories to Release in Kannada After Booker Win

The 12 short stories included in 'Heart Lamp', which was awarded the International Booker Prize 2025, will be released as a book in Kannada.

Abhiruchi Ganesh of the city-based Abhiruchi Prakashana, which had first published 'Haseena Mattu Itara Kathegalu', the Kannada short story collection of renowned writer Banu Mushtaq in whose book all these stories initially appeared, stated that he will bring out the 12 short stories in 'Heart Lamp' individually.These are Black Cobras, Be a Woman Once, Oh Lord, and Heart Lamp (Edeya Hanate).

In the meantime, orders for 'Haseena Mattu Itara Kathegalu', which fetched Booker laurels to Kannada, have gone through the roof with 450 copies being sold on May 21, just a few hours after the announcement. An estimated 700 copies of this book have been sold in two days.

As per Ganesh, the Kannada short story anthology, a book with 584 pages, was originally released in 2013. Ganesh, who entered the publishing sector according to the suggestion of the late activist and professor of Kannada K Ramdas, stated that he performed 17 unusual jobs before he became a publisher. "I accepted this task to facilitate the progressive movements of Karnataka," he told TOI.

"Banu Mushtaq's book was released for the first time in 2013 with 1,000 copies. We released the second edition with 1,000 copies a few weeks ago. Since all the copies sold out within 15 days, the third edition is being released this Wednesday. We are releasing this edition with 2,000 copies. But people are demanding more than 3,500 copies. So, a fourth edition will also be released," he clarified.

Ganesh said that a few more books of Banu are also in the pipeline in coming days.

"The new edition will also feature her new collection of stories Hennu Haddina Svayamvara. The book will consist of 776 pages," he said.