Siddaramaiah congratulates Banu Mushtaq for winning International Booker Prize

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday congratulated Banu Mushtaq for winning the International Booker Prize for her Kannada short story collection, and said she has raised the flag of Kannada’s greatness at the international level.

Writer, activist, and lawyer Mushtaq’s short story collection Hridaya Deepa (Heart Lamp) on Tuesday night became the first Kannada title to win the coveted GBP 50,000 International Booker Prize in London.

Mushtaq collected the prize at a ceremony at Tate Modern, along with Deepa Bhasthi, who translated the title from Kannada to English.

“Heartiest congratulations to the proud Kannada writer Banu Mushtaq for winning the International Booker Prize for Literature. This is a time to celebrate Kannada, Kannadigas, and Karnataka,” Siddaramaiah posted on ‘X’.

He said Banu Mushtaq, who writes while embodying the true values of harmony, secularism, and brotherhood of this land, has raised the flag of Kannada’s greatness at the international level and brought respect to us all.

“I wish she would continue to write meaningfully for many more years and spread the vibe of Kannada to the world,” the CM said.

“On behalf of all Kannadigas, I would also like to congratulate the talented author Deepa Bhasthi, who has translated her Booker Prize-winning work Hridaya Deepa into English,” he added.

Shortlisted among six worldwide titles, Mushtaq’s work appealed to the judges for its “witty, vivid, colloquial, moving, and excoriating” style of capturing portraits of family and community tensions.