Indian writer Banu Mushtaq’s book “Heart Lamp” has won the Man Booker International Prize. As The Washington Post notes, for the first time in history the award was given not to a separate novel, but to a collection of short stories.
The book consists of 12 stories and tells about the lives of Muslim and Dalit women, representatives of a marginalized minority in southern India (Dalits are considered “untouchables”).
The original work is written in Kannada, one of the official languages of India, spoken in the southwest of the country. About 65 million people speak it.
The collection was highly praised for its empathy and sharp sense of humor. This is stated in a review published in the Financial Times in April.
Mushtaq will share the prize of 50 thousand pounds sterling (more than 67 thousand dollars) with the translator of the book into English, Deepa Bhasti. She became the first Indian translator to receive the International Booker Prize.
The International Booker Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world. It was established in 2004 by the Man Group foundation in addition to the Booker Prize. It is awarded annually to authors from all over the world for books translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland.
