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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsBanu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp, translated from Kannada into English by Deepa Bhasthi, won the 2025 International Booker Prize. The Booker Prize Foundation announced the result on 20 May 2025 at Tate Modern in London. It is the award’s first winning short-story collection and its first winning book originally written in Kannada.
Who won the 2025 International Booker Prize?
The 2025 prize went to author Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi for Heart Lamp. The Booker Prize Foundation announced the award on 20 May 2025, at a ceremony at Tate Modern in London. The Foundation’s announcement and its 2025 award record confirm the result. The £50,000 prize is shared equally by the author and translator, in keeping with the award’s format.
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Heart Lamp | $10.77 | Buy on Amazon |
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Heart Lamp: Lamp of Mahamudra and Heart of the Matter | $14.21 | Buy on Amazon |
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Little First Stickers Diwali: A Festive Activity Book About Lanterns, Lamps, and Light for Children... | $5.11 | Buy on Amazon |
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Polishing the Lamp of the Heart: A Devotional | $2.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Light Up the Lamp | $14.95 | Buy on Amazon |
What is Heart Lamp about?
Heart Lamp is a collection of 12 short stories written in Kannada between 1990 and 2023. The stories portray women and girls in patriarchal communities in southern India; the Foundation’s book page describes the collection’s focus as Muslim communities in the region. The stories explore women’s resilience, resistance, wit and sisterhood amid inequity and hardship. Mushtaq has said that the pain and constrained lives of women she encountered through her work as a lawyer and activist moved her to write.
The collection’s stories span more than three decades, so the book is not a single continuous narrative. Its English edition, published by Sheffield-based independent publisher And Other Stories, appeared on 8 April 2025. See the Foundation’s book page for its official description and publication details.
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Who wrote and translated the winning book?
Banu Mushtaq
Mushtaq is a Kannada writer, lawyer and women’s-rights activist from Karnataka, and a voice in progressive Kannada literature. She wrote the stories in Kannada; Bhasthi translated and curated the English collection.
Deepa Bhasthi
Bhasthi is a writer and literary translator based in Kodagu, southern India. Her translation of Mushtaq’s stories received an English PEN award in 2024 before the stories were brought together as Heart Lamp. The Foundation describes this as Mushtaq’s first book-length translation into English.
Bhasthi’s translation also preserves elements of the stories’ multilingual speech: the Foundation notes that she retained Urdu and Arabic words when characters use them in conversation, helping preserve the rhythms of spoken language. Max Porter, chair of the 2025 judges, called the book “something genuinely new for English readers” and described it as “a radical translation which ruffles language, to create new textures in a plurality of Englishes.”
Why is the win significant?
The Foundation identifies several specific firsts associated with the result:
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- Heart Lamp is the first short-story collection to win the International Booker Prize.
- It is the first winning book originally written in Kannada and the first International Booker winner translated from Kannada.
- Bhasthi is the first Indian translator to win the prize.
- And Other Stories secured its first International Booker Prize win.
The International Booker recognizes long-form fiction and short-story collections translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland. Its main £50,000 prize is divided equally between the author and translator. The Foundation’s prize overview sets out the award’s remit and prize structure.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Who else was shortlisted?
The judges selected Heart Lamp from a shortlist of six. The other finalists were:
- On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara J. Haveland
- Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix, translated by Helen Stevenson
- Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, translated by Asa Yoneda
- Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, translated by Sophie Hughes
- A Leopard-Skin Hat by Anne Serre, translated by Mark Hutchinson
Max Porter chaired the 2025 judging panel. The Foundation reported that publishers submitted 154 books for the 2025 longlist, its highest number since the prize adopted its current format in 2016.
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