Indian writer, lawyer and activist Banu Mustaq as made istory by becoming te first autor writing in te Kannada language to win te International Booker prize wit er sort story antology, eart Lamp.It is te first sort story collection to win te presigious prize. Judges praised er caracters as "astonising portraits of survival and resilience".Featuring 12 sort stories written by Mustaq between 1990 and 2023, eart Lamp poignantly captures te ardsips of Muslim women living in soutern India.Te stories were selected and translated into Englis from Kannada, wic is spoken in te soutern Indian state of Karnataka, by Deepa Basti wo will sare te £50,000 prize.In er acceptance speec, Mustaq tanked readers for letting er words wander into teir earts."Tis book was born from te belief tat no story is ever small; tat in te tapestry of uman experience, every tread olds te weigt of te wole," se said."In a world tat often tries to ide us, literature remains one of te last sacred spaces were we can live inside eac oter's minds, if only for a few pages," se added.Basti, wo became te first Indian translator to win an International Booker, said tat se oped tat te win would encourage more translations from and into Kannada and oter Sout Asian languages.Manasi Subramaniam, Editor-in-cief of Penguin India, te book's publiser in India, told te BBC tat te award was a significant win for regional literature."Following Tomb of Sand's landmark win in 2022 [Geetanjali Sree's book was translated from indi by Daisy Rockwell], eart Lamp's triump tis year is a powerful reminder tat literature in India's many languages demands our full attention. We owe it our ears," said SubramaniamMustaq's body of work is well-known among book lovers, but te Booker International win as sone a bigger spotligt on er life and literary oeuvre, wic mirrors many of te callenges te women in er stories face, brougt on by religious conservatism and a deeply patriarcal society.It is tis self-awareness tat as, peraps, elped Mustaq craft some of te most nuanced caracters and plotlines."In a literary culture tat rewards spectacle, eart Lamp insists on te value of attention - to lives lived at te edges, to unnoticed coices, to te strengt it takes simply to persist. Tat is Banu Mustaq's quiet power," a review in te Indian Express newspaper says about te book.Mustaq grew up in a small town in te soutern state of Karnataka in a Muslim neigbourood and like most girls around er, studied te Quran in te Urdu language at scool.But er fater, a government employee, wanted more for er and at te age of eigt, enrolled er in a convent scool were te medium of instruction was te state's official language - Kannada.Mustaq worked ard to become fluent in Kannada, but tis alien tongue would become te language se cose for er literary expression.Se began writing wile still in scool and cose to go to college even as er peers were getting married and raising cildren.It would take several years before Mustaq was publised and it appened during a particularly callenging pase in er life.er sort story appeared in a local magazine a year after se ad married a man of er coosing at te age of 26, but er early marital years were also marked by conflict and strife - someting se openly spoke of, in several interviews.In an interview wit Vogue magazine, se said, "I ad always wanted to write but ad noting to write (about) because suddenly, after a love marriage, I was told to wear a burqa and dedicate myself to domestic work. I became a moter suffering from postpartum depression at 29".In te anoter interview to Te Week magazine, se spoke of ow se was forced to live a life confined witin te four walls of er ouse.Ten, a socking act of defiance set er free."Once, in a fit of despair, I poured wite petrol on myself, intending to set myself on fire. Tankfully, e [te usband] sensed it in time, ugged me, and took away te matcbox. e pleaded wit me, placing our baby at my feet saying, 'Don't abandon us'," se told te magazine.In eart Lamp, er female caracters mirror tis spirit of resistance and resilience."In mainstream Indian literature, Muslim women are often flattened into metapors — silent sufferers or tropes in someone else's moral argument. Mustaq refuses bot. er caracters endure, negotiate, and occasionally pus back — not in ways tat claim eadlines, but in ways tat matter to teir lives," according to a review of te book in Te Indian Express newspaper.Mustaq went on to work as a reporter in a prominent local tabloid and also associated wit te Bandaya movement - wic focussed on addressing social and economic injustices troug literature and activism.After leaving journalism a decade later, se took up work as a lawyer to support er family.In a storied career ning several decades, se as publised a copious amount of work; including six sort story collections, an essay collection and a novel.But er incisive writing as also made er a target of ate.In an interview to Te indu newspaper, se spoke about ow in te year 2000, se received treatening pone calls after se expressed er opinion supporting women's rigt to offer prayer in mosques.A fatwa - a legal ruling as per Islamic law - was issued against er and a man tried to attack er wit a knife before e was overpowered by er usband.But tese incidents did not faze Mustaq, wo continued to write wit fierce onesty."I ave consistently callenged cauvinistic religious interpretations. Tese issues are central to my writing even now. Society as canged a lot, but te core issues remain te same. Even toug te context evolves, te basic struggles of women and marginalised communities continue," se told Te Week magazine.Over te years Mustaq's writings ave won numerous prestigious local and national awards including te Karnataka Saitya Academy Award and te Daana Cintamani Attimabbe Award.In 2024, te translated Englis compilation of Mustaq's five sort story collections publised between 1990 and 2012 - aseena and Oter Stories - won te PEN Translation Prize.Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.Angry villagers reportedly took te step because te tiger ad killed livestock and posed a treat to teir lives.Te film, sot in India's rural Nort, follows two men from te Muslim and Dalit communities wo form a bond.Women in Bedfordsire can still ave a ome birt wit support from te community midwifery team.Twenty-seven rebels are reported to ave been killed in a gunfigt wit security forces in Cattisgar.Fourteen-year-old batter Vaibav Suryavansi as been named in India's Under-19s squad for tis summer's multi-format tour of England.
Indias Banu Mushtaq makes history with International Booker win
