Indian author Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi have won the International Booker Prize for fiction 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.
Mushtaq’s win is historic in several ways, as it is the first time that the award has been given to a collection of short stories. “Heart Lamp” is also the first book written in the Kannada language, which is spoken in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, to win the prestigious prize.
