My life and writing are one and the same: Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq

Ayesha Khanum, chairperson of Karnataka Media Academy, felicitating International Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq and Deepa Bhasthi in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN

“My life is like an open book… There is nothing to hide. My life and writing are one and the same,” said International Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq.

Speaking during an interaction, organised by the Karnataka Media Academy at Press Club, Bengaluru, on Wednesday, she said that there are many prejudices in society about a woman from a Muslim family writing boldly.

“A few years ago, a police officer asked me whether to write ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’ before my name while sending an invitation. Also, at an event in Bengaluru, a member of the audience asked me to share my experience of being divorced. I confronted him, asking who told him that I was divorced. I have been happily married for 50 years…. All these issues will be incorporated in my autobiography,” she said.

Shedding light about the selection of her book Heart Lamp for the Booker Prize, she said: “This is the first time that a collection of short stories has been awarded the Booker Prize. Heart Lamp was third among the three works selected for the final round of the award…. The selection committee considered the impact the work had on people,” she explained.

“When I felt that I had no life without writing, I turned to journalism. Later, I became a writer and a lawyer. Writing should not have any linguistic boundaries. I had my education in a Kannada-medium school, and wrote in Kannada. For writers, content is important, not the language,” she said. One’s work can always be translated into other languages later, Ms. Mushtaq added.

Deepa Bhasthi, translator of Heart Lamp, said that while translating, she felt no compulsion to impress the Western readers. “Therefore, many words used in the original have been retained. English became better because of Heart Lamp,” she said.

Chairperson of the Karnataka Media Academy Ayesha Khanum, journalist Dinesh Amin Mattu, and others were present at the event.