Apr 20 2025 to Apr 20 2025 6 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

This conversation on Heart Lamp: Selected Stories will delve into Banu Mushtaq’s fearless storytelling and her portrayal of women navigating faith, family, and societal expectations in southern India. The speakers will explore how Mushtaq’s journalistic and legal background shaped her writing, giving voice to the struggles and resilience of Muslim women. Translator Deepa Bhasthi, whose masterful rendering brings these stories to an English-speaking audience, will share insights into the nuances of language, the challenges of retaining Mushtaq’s distinctive voice, and the role of translation in preserving and amplifying regional literature. Through anecdotes from the book and reflections on contemporary gender and caste dynamics, the discussion will highlight the power of fiction to challenge norms, preserve oral histories, and inspire change.

Speakers

Banu Mushtaq
Author, Activist & Lawyer
Banu Mushtaq is a writer, activist and lawyer from Karnataka. Mushtaq began writing within the progressive protest literary circles in southwestern India in the 1970s and 80s. Critical of the caste system, the Bandaya Sahitya movement gave rise to influential Dalit and Muslim writers, among whom Mushtaq was one of the few women. She is the author of six short story collections, a novel, an essay collection and a poetry collection. She writes in Kannada and has won the Karnataka Sahitya Academy and Daana Chintamani Attimabbe awards.

Deepa Bhasthi
Writer & Translator
Deepa Bhasthi is a writer and literary translator based in Kodagu, southern India. Her columns, essays and cultural criticism have been published in India and internationally. Her published translations from Kannada include a novel by Kota Shivarama Karanth and a collection of short stories by Kodagina Gouramma. Her translation of Banu Mushtaq’s stories has won her the English PEN Translates award.

Shinie Antony
Writer & Editor
Shinie Antony is a writer and editor based in Bengaluru. Her books include Eden Abandoned: The Story of Lilith, Can’t, Barefoot and Pregnant, The Girl Who Couldn’t Love. She has compiled the anthologies Boo, Why We Don’t Talk, An Unsuitable Woman and Hell Hath No Fury. The anthology exObjects: The Art of Holding On, Letting Go has been co-edited with A.T. Boyle. Director of Bangalore Literature Festival and Bengaluru Poetry Festival, her story A Dog’s Death won the Commonwealth Short Story Asia prize 2002.