Heart Lamp: Selected Stories

Heart Lamp marks the powerful English-language debut of Banu Mushtaq—acclaimed lawyer, activist, and one of India’s most vital literary voices. Spanning over thirty years of storytelling, this collection gathers twelve short stories originally written in Kannada between 1990 and 2023, offering a rare and intimate glimpse into the everyday lives of Muslim women and girls in southern India.

With a keen eye and quiet force, Mushtaq brings to life a world shaped by family, faith, and quiet resistance. Drawing from her work as a journalist and human rights advocate, she crafts characters with nuance and depth—fierce grandmothers, sharp-witted children, burdened mothers, and men whose intentions are often as flawed as they are familiar. Through their stories, she explores the complicated costs of survival, love, and selfhood in the face of patriarchy, caste, and social expectation.

Winner of the 2025 International Booker Prize and the PEN Translates Award.