March Pick: Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq
Details
Our March Pick is Heart Lamp: Selected Stories by Banu
About the book:
WINNER OF THE 2025 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE.
In the twelve stories of Heart Lamp, Banu Mushtaq exquisitely captures the everyday lives of women and girls in Muslim communities in southern India. Published originally in Kannada between 1990 and 2023, praised for their dry, gentle humour, these portraits of family and community tensions testify to Mushtaq’s years as a journalist and lawyer, during which she tirelessly championed women’s rights and protested all forms of caste and religious oppression.
Written in a style at once witty, vivid, colloquial, moving and excoriating, it’s in her characters — the sparky children, the audacious grandmothers, the buffoonish maulvis and thug brothers, the oft-hapless husbands, and the mothers above all, surviving their feelings at great cost — that Mushtaq emerges as an astonishing writer and observer of human nature, building disconcerting emotional heights out of a rich spoken style. Her opus has garnered both censure from conservative quarters as well as India’s most prestigious literary awards; this is a collection sure to be read for years to come.
Meet Up Details:
We'll meet at Angelika Bar (State Cinema, North Hobart) at 4pm for a casual book discussion.
- 4pm: Meet and greet
- 4.15pm: Book discussion
- 5pm: Share next month's book details
- 5.10pm: Finish up - those who want to stay and chat are welcome to do so.
Food and drinks are available at the venue at your own cost.
Due to limited spots, if you're unable to attend for any reason, please update your RSVP ASAP so others can take your spot. Thanks!