Winner of the 2025 International Booker Prize Award, Heart Lamp is a collection of short stories from Banu Mushtaq, capturing the lives of Muslim women and girls in Southern India. It is an exquisite collection from across Mushtaq’s career, and the first time her work has been offered in English.
It is little wonder Heart Lamp has faced such acclaim. For an ‘English debut’, Mushtaq enjoyed a considerable advantage in the curation of Heart Lamp. The collection assembles a dozen stories, picked from more than 50 across Mushtaq’s multi-decade career. The final product is a ‘best of’ assemblage that demonstrates a writer (and translator) in full command of the short story form.
Every paragraph of Mushtaq’s prose is intricately drawn. Her feminism and rebellion are unmistakable, but packaged in wry humour and unforgettable characters. The stories are naturalistic and unflinching descriptions of Kannada. But they are also life-affirming, with moments of earnest sincerity sweeping the reader in an emotional wave.
One of the most effective is the final story, ‘Be a woman once, oh lord!’ The tale breaks from others in that it is not a domestic story. Rather, a first-person narrator addresses God directly, as she recounts a story and challenges God’s damnation of women. It is at once profound, funny, compelling and immensely moving.
Deepa Bhasthi’s work as translator is extraordinary. It is a sympathetic and deft translation of a regional Indian dialect that has allowed Mushtaq’s words to gain international acclaim. Bhasthi’s translation is remarkable for its invisibility: the English reader is invited to engage with a voice from contemporary literature – the fact that it is translated never interrupts the work.
Read: Theatre review: The Spare Room, Belvoir St Theatre
Heart Lamp is an outstanding collection of short stories and a must for any fan of contemporary literature.
Heart Lamp, Banu Mushtaq
Publisher: Scribe Publication
ISBN:9781761381836
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224pp
Release date: 20 May 2025
RRP: $29.99
