International Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq to join KKLF

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Aug.30: The 4th Kathmandu Kalinga Literature Festival (KKLF) has announced that Banu Mushtaq, an International Man Booker Prize winner, will join the festival. 

The festival is scheduled to take place on September 13 and 14 at Hotel Himalaya, Lalitpur.

According to Kalinga Literary Festival Founder and Director, Rashmi Ranjan Parida, the festival will also feature noted writers from India, Deepa Bhasthi, Dr. Vikram Sampat, diplomat Vikas Swarup, internationally acclaimed literary agent Kanishk Gupta, Narayani Basu, Jatindra Kumar Nayak, Ashok Kumar Bal, Smarak Swain, Sandeep Singh Chauhan, Sujit Kumar, Vineet Gill, Milee Ashwarya and others. 

Banu Mushtaq's collection of short stories, 'Heart Lamp,' translated from Kannada into English by Indian journalist Deepa Bhasthi, is the winner of the International Booker Prize 2025. The International Booker Prize recognises the vital work of translation, with the pound sterling 50,000 prize money divided equally between the author and the translator. 

Born on April 3, 1948, Banu is a Kannada-language writer, activist, and lawyer from Karnataka. She is the author of six short story collections, a novel, an essay collection and a poetry collection. 

She has won major awards, including the Karnataka Sahitya Academy and the Daana Chintamani Attimabbe awards. One of the stories from 'Heart Lamp' has been published in the Paris Review. Featuring 12 short stories written by Mushtaq between 1990 and 2023, 'Heart Lamp' poignantly captures the hardships of Muslim women living in southern India.

Deepa Bhasthi, born in 1983, is an Indian writer, translator and journalist from Karnataka. She is the first translator from India to win the International Booker Prize. Bhasthi’s columns, essays and cultural criticism are internationally acclaimed. Besides 'Heart Lamp,' her published translations from Kannada include a novel by Kota Shivarama Karanth and a short story collection by Kodagina Gouramma.

According to KKLF coordinator Pawan Thapa Magar, an interview with Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi will be held on September 13.

Besides, more than 300 writers from Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka will participate in the festival.

The central theme of the festival is 'Beyond Borders: South Asian Literature in a Changing World.'

According to the organisers, the theme aims to explore how writers, poets, and intellectuals from the South Asian region are contributing to global conversations on identity, social engagement, climate action, economic development, cultural evolution, inclusion, and spirituality.

Jeewan Jyoti Digital Care from Nepal, in association with the Kalinga Literary Festival, will collaborate in this edition of KKLF to celebrate the spirit of Lord Shiva and Gautama Buddha in the context of Nepal-India literary ties.

The annual Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) is one of India’s leading international literary festivals, held annually in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, in eastern India. Since 2022, KLF has also been organising the Kathmandu edition.