London, May 21 -- Indian writer, women activist Banu Mushtaq scripted history by winning the International Booker prize for the short story anthology, Heart Lamp in 2025. It is the first short-story collection and a Kannada book to win the honour in London on Tuesday.

Originally written in the Kannada language, the stories in Heart Lamp were translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi. She was also honoured with the International Booker Prize along with writer Mushtaq.

As per the Booker Prize website, Heart Lamp is a collection of 12 short stories chronicling the everyday lives of women and girls in patriarchal communities in southern India. The collection of 12 stories spans more than 30 years, written between 1990 and 2023.

Mushtaq is t...