International Booker Prize 2025: Indian author Banu Mushtaq’s ‘Heart Lamp’ shortlisted

The 2025 International Booker Prize shortlist, featuring six authors, including India’s Banu Mushtaq, has been announced. Mushtaq is one of the three  authors shortlisted for their debut English-language publications.The nomination of six authors was a first for the prestigious event. The shortlisted works are translated from five original languages, with Kannada being represented for the first time. The list was announced on Tuesday (April 8).

Translated by Deepa Bhasthi, Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp

is a collection of 12 short stories. The volumes  depicts the everyday lives of women and girls in Muslim communities in southern India. The stories were originally published in Kannada between 1990 and 2023.
Who is Banu Mushtaq?Banu Mushtaq is a writer, activist and lawyer from Karnataka. She has previously published six short story collections. Her legacy also includes a novel, an essay collection, and a poetry collection. Heart Lamp is her first book-length work to be translated into English.

The Kannada writer has won many awards, including the Karnataka Sahitya Academy prize. Besides English, Heart Lamp is also available in Urdu, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam.

The Booker Prize panel described Heart Lamp as exploring the lives of those on the periphery of society, with stories that have a lot of emotional and moral weight.
The books shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize are as follows:1. A Leopard-Skin Hat by Anne Serre. The novel follows the narrator’s intense friendship with Fanny, a childhood friend struggling with severe psychological disorders.

2. Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq. A collection of 12 stories about the everyday lives of girls in Muslim communities in southern India.

3. Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico. A sociological novel that explores the emptiness of contemporary existence.

4. Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami. A speculative novel set in a future where humanity is on the brink of extinction.

5. Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix. The novel examines the tragic real-life incident when an inflatable dinghy carrying migrants from France to the United Kingdom capsized in the English Channel, killing 27 people.

6. On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle. This is the first part of an epic septology. The story follows Tara Selter, who finds herself slipping out of time, waking up every morning on the same date: 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.

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