Heart Lamp: Selected Stories
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By Banu Mushtaq, and and, Deepa Bhasthi
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Longlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize
In the twelve stories of Heart Lamp, Banu Mushtaq exquisitely captures the everyday lives of women and girls in Muslim communities in southern India. Praised for their dry and gentle humour, these portraits of family and community tensions have garnered both censure from conservative quarters as well India’s most prestigious literary awards.
‘A significant presence in Kannada literature, Banu Mushtaq reveals the varied realities of contemporary women with rare talent and art. Deepa Bhasthi’s rich translation captures the original’s nuances of voice, context and experience, bringing this important work into English for new readers in India and internationally.’ PEN Presents Selection Panel
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Short stories about everyday lives in Muslim communities in southern India. The undramatic telling and the ordinariness of the lives described highlights the dreadful oppression of women in these controlling patriarchal societies. Brilliantly done and cleverly translated.
