United News of Bangladesh

Indian author Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi won the International Booker Prize for fiction Tuesday for “Heart Lamp,” a collection of 12 short stories written over a period of more than 30 years and which chronicle the everyday lives and struggles of women in southern India. The award was announced by bestselling Booker Prize-longlisted author Max Porter in his role as chair of the five-member voting panel, at a ceremony at London’s Tate Modern.  Thailand and Indonesia announce strategic partnership, vow to boost economic and defense ties It is the first time the award has been given to a collection of short stories. Bhasthi is the first Indian translator — and ninth female translator — to win the prize since it took on its current form in 2016. Mushtaq is the sixth female author to be awarded the prize since then. Written in Kannada, which is spoken by around 65 million people, primarily in southern India, Porter praised the “radical” nature of the translation, adding that “It’s been a joy” to listen to the evolving appreciation of the stories by members of the jury. “These beautiful, busy, life-affirming stories rise from Kannada, interspersed with the extraordinary socio-political richness of other languages and dialects," said Porter. ”It speaks of women’s lives, reproductive rights, faith, caste, power and oppression.” The book, which beat five other finalists, comprises stories written from 1990 to 2023. They were selected and curated by Bhasthi, who was keen to preserve the multilingual nature of southern India in her translation. Mushtaq, who is a lawyer and activist as well as writer, told a short list reading event on Sunday that the stories “are about women – how religion, society and politics demand unquestioning obedience from them, and in doing so, inflict inhumane cruelty upon them, turning them into mere subordinates.” The 50,000-pound ($66,000) prize money is to be divided equally between author and translator. Each is presented with a trophy too.  Philippines Senate race a blow to President Marcos as he feuds with Vice President Duterte The International Booker Prize is awarded every year. It is run alongside the Booker Prize for English-language fiction, which will be handed out in the fall.

Chinese writer Can Xue and Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong’o, both long-favored contenders for the Nobel Prize for literature, are among nominees for the International Booker Prize for fiction. Can Xue’s “I Live in the Slums” and Ngugi’s “The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gikuyu and Mumbi” are among 13 books on the long list for the 50,000 pound ($69,000) prize. The list announced Tuesday features works from four continents, including “The War of the Poor” by France’s Eric Vuillard, “In Memory of Memory” by Russian writer Maria Stepanova, “The Dangers of Smoking in Bed” by Argentina’s Mariana Enriquez and “Minor Detail” by Palestinian author Adania Shibli. Writer Lucy Hughes-Hallett, who heads the judging panel, said a theme of many of the books was “migration -- the pain of it, but also the fruitful interconnectedness of the modern world.” The six finalists are set to be revealed on April 22 and the winner on June 2. The International Booker Prize is awarded every year to a book of fiction in any language that is translated into English and published in the U.K. or Ireland. It is run alongside the Booker Prize for English-language fiction. The prize money is split between the book’s author and its translator. Ngugi translated his own novel from his mother tongue, Kikuyu.