Heart Lamp: Selected Stories facts for kids
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| Author | Banu Mushtaq |
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| Translator | Deepa Bhasthi |
| Country | India |
| Language | Kannada |
| Genre | Short stories |
| Published | 10 September 2024 (UK), 18 February 2025 (India) |
| Publisher | And Other Stories (UK), Penguin Random House India (India) |
| Media type | |
| ISBN | 978-1-91350-592-9 |
Heart Lamp: Selected Stories is a collection of short stories by Indian writer Banu Mushtaq, originally written in Kannada between 1990 and 2023 and translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi. Published by And Other Stories in the UK on 10 September 2024, the collection comprises 12 stories exploring the lives of Muslim women in southern India, focusing on themes of patriarchy, gender inequality, and resilience. The book won the International Booker Prize in 2025: the first Kannada-language work and the first collection of short stories to receive this award.
Summary
Heart Lamp: Selected Stories consists of 12 short stories written by Banu Mushtaq over three decades, translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi. The stories focus on the experiences of Muslim women in southern India, addressing themes of gender inequality, faith, and societal pressures, often with dry humor and emotional depth.
Key stories include "Stone Slabs for Shaista Mahal" and "A Decision of the Heart", which explore gender roles and societal expectations. The title story reflects an incident in Mushtaq's own life when, struggling with marriage, motherhood, and domesticity, she doused herself in kerosene. In the story, the protagonist's children intervene, reminding her that she is loved and understood.
The collection is part of the Bandaya Sahitya movement, a Kannada literary tradition critiquing caste, class, and religious oppression. The translation retains Kannada, Urdu, and Arabic words to preserve cultural authenticity.
Development and publication
The stories in Heart Lamp: Selected Stories were selected by translator Deepa Bhasthi from Banu Mushtaq's six Kannada short story collections, written between 1990 and 2023. Bhasthi translated the collection to introduce Mushtaq's work to an international audience. The project built on the success of Mushtaq’s earlier translated collection, Haseena and Other Stories, which won the English PEN Translates Award in 2024. Heart Lamp was published by And Other Stories in the UK on 10 September 2024. It was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in early 2025, shortlisted in April, and won on 20 May 2025 at London's Tate Modern.
Awards
- International Booker Prize (2025) – A prize of £50,000 shared between author and translator
