Heart Lamp, a collection of short stories about Muslim women in southern India by Banu Mushtaq, has won the coveted International Booker Prize.
Deepa Bhasthi's translation of 12 of Mushtaq’s tales is the first short-story collection to win the award.
Lawyer and women’s rights activist Mushtaq wrote the stories, originally in the Kannada language, over the course of 30 years. She is the second Indian author to win the prize.
Mushtaq began writing in the 1970s and has published six short story collections, a novel and essays as well as poetry.
The author was inspired to write the stories by those who came to her seeking help.
“The pain, suffering and helpless lives of these women create a deep emotional response within me, compelling me to write,” she said, according to a press release by the prize committee.
Translator Bhasthi selected and curated the stories, with the aim of preserving the multilingual nature of southern India. When the characters use Urdu or Arabic words in conversation, these are left in the original, reproducing the unique rhythms of spoken language.
Heart Lamp “is something genuinely new for English readers: a radical translation [of] beautiful, busy, life-affirming stories”, chairman of the 2025 panel of judges Max Porter said.
“This was the book the judges really loved, right from our first reading. It’s been a joy to listen to the evolving appreciation of these stories from the different perspectives of the jury.”
The International Booker Prize recognises the vital work of translation, with the £50,000 prize money divided equally between the author and the translator.
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Multitasking pays off for money goals
Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.
That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.
"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.
Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."
People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.
"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."
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