Heart Lamp: selected stories

In the twelve stories of Heart Lamp, Banu Mushtaq exquisitely captures the everyday lives of women and girls in Muslim communities in southern India. Published originally in the Kannada language between 1990 and 2023, praised for their dry and gentle humour, these portraits of family and community tensions testify to Mushtaq's years as a journalist and lawyer, in which she tirelessly championed women's rights and protested all forms of caste and religious oppression.

Written in a style at once witty, vivid, colloquial, moving and excoriating, it's in her characters - the sparky children, the audacious grandmothers, the buffoonish maulvis and thug brothers, the oft-hapless husbands, and the mothers above all, surviving their feelings at great cost - that Mushtaq emerges as an astonishing writer and observer of human nature, building disconcerting emotional heights out of a rich spoken style. Her opus has garnered both censure from conservative quarters as well as India's most prestigious literary awards; this is a collection sure to be read for years to come.

'Exploring the lives of those often on the periphery of society, these vivid stories hold immense emotional and moral weight ... Heart Lamp returns us to the true, great pleasures of reading- solid storytelling, unforgettable characters, vivid dialogue, tensions simmering under the surface, and a surprise at each turn.' - Judges' citation from the 2025 International Booker Prize

'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

'The critical acclaim of Heart Lamp is deserved; Mushtaq is - and has been for decades - a writer with a noticeably powerful and profound voice. The potential recognition of her stories through the Bhasti's translation of Heart Lamp will introduce her stories, already beloved in Kannada, to a wider and diversified audience.' - Mahika Dhar, Asian Review of Books

Banu Mushtaq (Author)

Banu Mushtaq is a writer, activist, and lawyer in the state of Karnataka, southern India. Mushtaq began writing within the progressive protest literary circles in southwestern India in the 1970s and 1980s- critical of the caste and class system, the Bandaya Sahitya movement gave rise to influential Dalit and Muslim writers, of whom Mushtaq was one of the few women. She is the author of six short story collections, a novel, an essay collection and a poetry collection. She writes in Kannada and has won major awards for her literary works, including the Karnataka Sahitya Academy and the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe awards.

Deepa Bhasthi (Translator)

Deepa Bhasthi is a writer and literary translator based in Kodagu, southern India. Her columns, essays, and cultural criticism have been published in India and internationally. Her published translations from Kannada include a novel by Kota Shivarama Karanth and a collection of short stories by Kodagina Gouramma. Her translation of Banu Mushtaq's stories was a winner of English PEN's PEN Translates award.

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