Book- Heart Lamp
Author- Banu Mushtaq
Translator- Deepa Bhasthi
In this episode of Kitabwala, The Lallantop’s premium weekly book show, Saurabh Dwivedi speaks with celebrated Kannada writer Banu Mushtaq and translator-writer Deepa Bhasthi about Heart Lamp — a powerful collection of short stories originally written in Kannada and now translated into English that won International Booker Prize of 2025.
Heart Lamp brings forth stories by Banu Mushtaq that are intimate, political, layered, and unflinching in their portrayal of women’s lives, communal realities, class struggles, and inner conflicts. These are stories that question norms and disturb comfort zones. In Deepa Bhasthi’s precise and thoughtful translation, these stories cross linguistic boundaries without losing their emotional core.
This conversation explores Banu Mushtaq’s journey as a writer, the socio-political contexts of her work, and how language, faith, and gender shape her storytelling. Deepa Bhasthi talks about the politics and poetics of translation — and what it means to carry a writer’s voice from Kannada into English.
Timeline-
00:00 – Promo
01:30 – Introduction to the book Heart Lamp and its author
07:18 – How the stories were selected for the collection
09:50 – Why Deepa Bhasthi is against using italics in translation
13:03 – Banu on writing the story “Heart Lamp”
21:59 – Glimpses into Banu’s personal life
29:38 – The presence of multiple religions in her stories
39:40 – When extremists threatened Banu
46:50 – Banu’s physical pain and endurance
51:30 – Deepa’s favourite story from the book
55:17 – What it felt like to be associated with a Booker title
1:03:26 – Outro
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Production:
Video Editor: Radhe/Ravi
Producer- Deepak Tenguriya
