Indian literature in global spotlight as Banu Mushtaq's Kannada book shortlisted for Booker Prize
It’s a popular belief that 'nobody is reading any more'. However, going by the recent events much is hip and happening in the Indian literature scene.
Starting with Indian writers getting international recognition, Kannada writer Banu Mushtaq is a step closer to winning the 2025 International Booker Prize for 'Heart Lamp', a collection of 12 of her short stories written in a span of 33 years, from 1990 to 2023. Originally written in Kannada and translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi, the stories revolve around the lives of Muslim and Dalit women in South India.
With this, India's regional literature is making a mark globally, which, in a way, peaked with writer-translator duo Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell winning the 2022 International Booker Prize for 'Tomb of Sand', a translation from Hindi to English of 'Ret Samadhi'.
Speaking of Hindi, celebrated writer-poet Vinod Kumar Shukla added another laurel in his long, illustrious career as he won the 2024 Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honour, announced last month. Shukla, known for his works including 'Naukar ki Kameez' (The Servant’s Shirt), 'Sab Kuch Hona Bacha Rahega', among others, won the Sahitya Akademi award for the best Hindi novel in 1999 for his 'Deewar Mein Ek Khidki Rahti thi' (1997) and was the only Indian poet to win the PEN Nabokov award (in 2023). Born in 1937 in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, he is also the first writer from the state to win the Jnanpith Award.
In another thrilling news, author Ruskin Bond is coming up with a new book, a much-intimate 'Another Day in Landour: Looking Out from My Window'. While much of his writings revolve around the mountains, here Bond lets the readers to his room which has a window, from which he looks out on the world, a room where he writes his daily journal. While much of our lives has become rushed, always gearing to be something and somewhere, Bond's new book invites you to pause, reflect, and appreciate the quieter moments.
It's a noisy world out there, and sieving facts from noise is much needed. This applies to health and wellness, too, information and misinformation about which galore on the internet and otherwise. In a world where crash and fad diets are increasingly the norm, celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar is back with her latest 'The Commonsense Diet'. Diwekar is known for promoting a simple and sustainable diet, which includes traditional dishes. Suffice to say, it makes the journey of losing weight and keeping healthy more of a joy than pain.
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