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{{Short description|Indian writer and activist (born 1948)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Banu Mushtaq
| honorific-suffix =
| image =Banu Mushtaq 1 at Kollam 2025.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Banu Mushtaq at Kollam, 2025
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1948|04|03}}
| birth_place = [[Hassan, Karnataka|Hassan]], [[Mysore State]], [[Dominion of India]] (now [[Hassan, Karnataka]], India)
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Writer, activist and lawyer
| education =
| nationality =
| citizenship =
| period =
| movement =
| genre =
| subjects =
| parents =
| spouse =
| children =
| notableworks = ''[[Heart Lamp: Selected Stories |Heart Lamp]]'' (translated by [[Deepa Bhasthi]])
| awards = [[International Booker Prize]] (2025)
| signature =
| relatives =
}}

'''Banu Mushtaq''' (born 3 April 1948) is an Indian [[Kannada]]-language writer, activist, and lawyer from [[Karnataka]]. She is best known for ''[[Heart Lamp: Selected Stories |Heart Lamp]]'', a selection of her short stories translated by [[Deepa Bhasthi]], which won the [[International Booker Prize]] in 2025. She has published six short story collections, a novel, an essay collection, and a poetry collection. Her work has been translated into [[Urdu]], [[Hindi]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Malayalam]] and English.

== Personal life and activism ==
Banu Mushtaq was born into a [[Muslims in India|Muslim]] family in [[Hassan, Karnataka]], on 3 April 1948.<ref name=hindu/><ref name=nia>{{cite web |title=Muslim patriarchs – I prefer to call them Muslim fascist forces: Banu Mushtaque (interview) |url=https://www.newageislam.com/interview/banu-mushtaq/muslim-patriarchs-i-prefer-call-them-muslim-fascist-forces-banu-mushtaque/d/3307 |website=[[New Age Islam]]|interviewer=Yoginder Sikand|access-date=27 March 2025 |date=17 August 2010}}</ref> When she was eight years old, Mushtaq was enrolled in a Kannada-language missionary school in [[Shimoga|Shivamogga]], on the condition that she must learn "to read and write Kannada in six months"; she exceeded expectations by beginning to write after a few days of school.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Sathish |first=G. T. |date=4 March 2025 |title=Firebrand writer Banu Mushtaq, and her International Booker Prize-longlisted anthology, Heart Lamp |url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/kannada-author-banu-mushtaq-international-booker-prize-longlist-heart-lamp-short-stories-translation-deepa-bhasthi/article69268894.ece |access-date=27 March 2025 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

In contrast to community expectations, she attended university and married for love at the age of 26.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Kanika |date=1 March 2025 |title=Banu Mushtaq wrote ''Heart Lamp'' for 33 years. Now, it's nominated for the International Booker Prize |url=https://www.vogue.in/content/banu-mushtaq-wrote-heart-lamp-for-33-years-nominated-for-international-booker-prize |access-date=27 March 2025 |website=Vogue India |language=en-IN}}</ref>

She was a reporter for the newspaper ''[[Lankesh Patrike]]''<ref name=":1" /> and, for some months, she worked for [[All India Radio]] in [[Bengaluru]].<ref name=nia/>

Since the 1980s, Mushtaq has been involved in activist movements working to undermine "fundamentalism and social injustices" in Karnataka.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title='In Karnataka, Cultural Practices Basavanna Fought Against Are Getting Reintroduced' |url=https://article-14.com/post/-in-karnataka-cultural-practices-basavanna-fought-against-are-getting-reintroduced--6231ec2685c76|first=Basav |last=Biradar|date=17 March 2022|access-date=27 March 2025 |website=article-14.com}}</ref>

In 2000, a three-month "social [[boycott]]" was announced against Mushtaq and her family in response to her "advocacy of the right of Muslim women to enter mosques".<ref name=":3" /> During that time, she received menacing telephone calls and a man attempted to stab her but was thwarted by her husband.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mollan |first1=Cherylann |title=India's Banu Mushtaq makes history with International Booker win |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c308qjpz9y2o |access-date=22 May 2025 |agency=BBC News |date=21 May 2025}}</ref>

In the early 2000s, Mushtaq joined the civil society group [[Komu Souhardha Vedike]] in protesting efforts to prevent Muslims from visiting a syncretic shrine in [[Baba Budangiri]], [[Chikmagalur district]].<ref name=":3" />

Mushtaq has supported the right of Muslim students to wear hijab in schools, which has been [[2022 Karnataka hijab row|challenged in Karnataka]].<ref name=":3" />

She speaks Kannada, Hindi, [[Dakhni Urdu]], and English.<ref name=":1" />

== Writing ==
[[File:Banu Mushtaq talk 2025.webm|thumb|Booker prize winner Banu Mushtaq talk at Kollam 2025]]
Mushtaq was interested in writing from a young age, but did not become a writer until the age of 29, as a new mother suffering from [[postpartum depression]]. Mushtaq turned to writing to explore her feelings and experiences. Much of her writing looks at women's issues.<ref name=":1" />

Mushtaq has published six collections of short stories, a novel, a collection of essays and a collection of poetry.<ref>{{cite web |title=Authors: Banu Mushtaq |url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/authors/banu-mushtaq |publisher=The Booker Prizes |access-date=27 March 2025}}</ref> Her work has been translated into Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam, as well as, very recently, English.<ref>{{cite web |title=Authors: Banu Mushtaq |url=https://www.andotherstories.org/authors/banu-mushtaq/ |website=[[And Other Stories]] |access-date=27 March 2025 |date=4 December 2024}}</ref> Her story ''Karinaagaragalu'' was adapted into the 2003 Kannada film ''[[Hasina (film)|Hasina]]'' by [[Girish Kasaravalli]].<ref name=":1" />

===''Heart Lamp''===
Mushtaq's first full-length book to be translated into English was ''[[Heart Lamp: Selected Stories]]'' (published by [[And Other Stories]], 2025), a selection of women-centred stories set in Muslim communities in southern India. The translator, [[Deepa Bhasthi]], began translating Mushtaq's work into English in 2022.<ref name=":1" /> Bhasthi selected the volume's twelve stories from the six collections Mushtaq had published between 1990 and 2023.<ref name="radical">{{cite news |last1=Knight |first1=Lucy |title='Radical translation' of ''Heart Lamp'' by Banu Mushtaq wins International Booker prize |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/may/20/radical-translation-of-heart-lamp-by-banu-mushtaq-wins-international-booker-prize |access-date=20 May 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=20 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=An interview with Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi, author and translator of Heart Lamp |url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/banu-mushtaq-and-deepa-bhasthi-interview-heart-lamp |website=The Booker Prizes |access-date=21 May 2025 |date=14 March 2025}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

In May 2025, ''Heart Lamp'' won the 2025 [[International Booker Prize]].<ref name="win">{{cite news |last1=Marshall |first1=Alex |title=Banu Mushtaq's ''Heart Lamp'', a Story Collection, Wins International Booker Prize |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/books/review/international-booker-prize-winner.html |access-date=20 May 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=20 May 2025}}</ref> Mushtaq was the first Kannada-language writer to have their work nominated for the prize.<ref name=":0" /> Deepa Bhasthi was the first Indian translator to win the prize and this was the first short story collection ever to win the prize.<ref>{{cite web |title=Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi have won the International Booker Prize 2025 for ''Heart Lamp'', the first collection of short stories to win the prize |url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/international/2025 |website=The Booker Prizes |access-date=20 May 2025}}</ref>

The stories in the collection reflect Mushtaq's life as a journalist and lawyer, with a focus on women's rights and resistance to caste and religious injustice in her part of the country.<ref name=hindu>{{cite web |last=The Hindu Staff |title=Who is Banu Mushtaq? Kannada writer who scripted history with 2025 International Booker Prize win |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/who-is-banu-mushtaq-kannada-writer-who-scripted-history-with-international-booker-prize-win/article69600716.ece |website=The Hindu |location=Bangalore |date=21 May 2025 |access-date=22 May 2025}}</ref>

Chair of the Booker International judges [[Max Porter (writer)|Max Porter]] said that although the stories are feminist, and "contain extraordinary accounts of patriarchal systems and resistance", first and foremost they are "beautiful accounts of everyday life and particularly the lives of women".<ref name="radical" /> ''[[The Guardian]]'' commented that the "tone varies from quiet to comic, but the vision is consistent" and called it a "wonderful collection".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Self |first1=John |title=A Danish Groundhog Day or tales of millennial angst… What should win this year's International Booker? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/may/18/what-should-win-next-weeks-international-booker |website=The Guardian |access-date=21 May 2025 |date=18 May 2025}}</ref>

== Awards and recognition ==
* 1999: [[Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award]]<ref name=":2" />
* [[Daana Chintamani Attimabbe Award]]<ref name=":2">{{cite news |last1=Creamer |first1=Ella |title=All 13 writers on International Booker longlist are first-time nominees |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/feb/25/all-13-writers-on-international-booker-longlist-are-first-time-nominees |access-date=27 March 2025 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=25 February 2025}}</ref>
* 2024: [[English PEN|PEN English Translate Award]], for Deepa Bhasthi's translation of ''Haseena and Other Stories''<ref>{{Cite news |date=18 July 2024 |title=Collection of Banu Mushtaq's short stories translated into English wins PEN English Translate award |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/collection-of-banu-mushtaqs-short-stories-translated-into-english-wins-pen-english-translate-award/article68418815.ece |access-date=27 March 2025 |work=[[The Hindu]] |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>
* 2025: [[International Booker Prize]] for ''Heart Lamp'', translated by Deepa Bhasthi<ref>{{cite news |last1=Marshall |first1=Alex |title=International Booker Prize Shortlist: 6 Books to Talk About |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/books/international-booker-prize-shortlist.html |access-date=8 April 2025 |work=New York Times |date=8 April 2025 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Booker Prize for Banu Mushtaq: Celebrations in Hassan as Kannada Author Wins Prestigious Award |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/celebrations-at-banu-mushtaqs-home-in-hassan-after-international-booker-prize-win-3550660 |access-date=21 May 2025 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en|first=Gayathri V |last=Raj|date=21 May 2025}}</ref>

==Controversy==
The [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] government's decision to invite Booker Prize laureate Banu Mushtaq to kick off the [[Mysore Dasara]] celebrations involving ''[[Puja (Hinduism)|pooja]]'' to Goddess [[Bhuvaneshvari]] was met with opposition on 22 September, 2025 when a video of her criticizing the devotion of the [[Kannada language]] in the form of Goddess Bhuvaneshwari went viral.<ref>{{cite web | title=Row over Banu Mushtaq's 2023 speech on Kannada deity | website=Deccan Herald | date=2025-08-26 | url=https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/row-over-banu-mushtaqs-2023-speech-on-kannada-deity-3696868 | access-date=2025-09-22}}</ref> She responded by telling [[The Hindu]] newspaper, "Active politicians should have a sense of what to politicise and what not to."<ref>{{cite web | last=Mollan | first=Cherylann | title=Banu Mushtaq: Why is India's International Booker Prize winner at the centre of a political row? | website=BBC Home | date=2025-08-29 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxpzl12pqeo | access-date=2025-09-22}}</ref>

==Publications==
* ''ಹಸೀನಾ ಮತ್ತು ಇತರ ಕಥೆಗಳು'' [{{tlit|kn|Hasīna mattu itara kathegaḷu}}] (compilation, Abhiruchi Prakashana, 2013) {{isbn|9788178770611}}, {{oclc|896807078}}
**''Haseena and Other Stories'' (translated by Deepa Bhasthi, 2024)
*''[[Heart Lamp: Selected Stories]]'' (compilation, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, And Other Stories, 2025), {{isbn|9781916751163}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mushtaq, Banu}}
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian short story writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:Activists from Karnataka]]
[[Category:Indian women activists]]
[[Category:Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:Kannada-language writers]]
[[Category:People from Hassan]]
[[Category:People with mood disorders]]
[[Category:Writers from Karnataka]]

Banu Mushtaq - Revision history

Geri3389994518 at 20:59, 20 November 2025