Banaras Lit Fest
4th – 7th Feb 2027 Taj Ganges, Varanasi
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BLF
Registration Opening Soon
BLF SPEAKERS

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Banu Mushtaq2.jpg

Banu Mushtaq

Banu Mushtaq was born and brought up in Hassan, Karnataka. She began her literary journey in the 1970s, becoming a strong voice in Kannada literature with stories and poems focusing on women and marginalized communities. Alongside her writing, she trained and worked as a lawyer, practicing for over 30 years in Hassan.

Her early work gained recognition within the Bandaya (protest) literary movement. In 1999, she received the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award for her contributions to literature. She was honoured with the Suvarna Karnataka Rajyotsava Award in 2023, one of the state’s highest honors recognizing her outstanding service to Kannada literature and culture. In 2024, she received the prestigious Daana Chintamani Attimabbe Award, given to distinguished women writers in Karnataka.

Her story Karinaagaragalu inspired the Kannada film Haseena, directed by Girish Kasaravalli, which won the Golden Lotus National Award and was screened internationally. Another of her stories was adapted into a radio play, which won an International Women’s Award for Radio and Television. Banu Mushtaq has authored many short-story collections, novels, poetry anthologies, and essays, including Namage Nammavaru Illa and Haseena Mattu Itara Kathegalu.

Between 2020 and 2025, her international acclaim grew. In 2024, the English translation of her stories won the PEN Translates Award. Then in 2025, her translated collection Heart Lamp, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, won the International Booker Prize — the first Kannada work to win this prestigious award.

Banu Mushtaq has served on literary bodies such as the Karnataka Sahitya Academy, the Central Sahitya Academy, and as State Secretary of the Kannada Sahitya Parishad. The Karnataka State Information and Publicity Department also produced a documentary on her life and achievements.

She continues to live and practice law in Hassan, where she remains committed to advocating for women’s rights and social justice through both her writing and legal work.

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