Indian author Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi won the International Booker Prize for fiction Tuesday for “Heart Lamp,” a collection of 12 short stories written over a period of more than 30 years and which chronicle the everyday lives and struggles of women in southern India.

Max Porter, Chair of the 2025 International Booker Prize judges, praised Heart Lamp as a standout from the outset. “This was the book the judges really loved, right from our first reading,” he said. “We are thrilled to share this timely and exciting winner with readers around the world.”

Indian writer-lawyer-activist Banu Mushtaq has scripted history by winning the International Booker prize for the short story anthology, Heart Lamp. It is the first book written in the Kannada language,