14 h. ago ‘My legal work sows the seeds of my stories’: International Booker prize winner Banu Mushtaq

The author and activist, who was subject to a fatwa in 2000, has won the prestigious prize for translated fiction for her short stories about the lives of Muslim women. She and her translator Deepa Bhasthi explain how Heart Lamp’s themes ‘are universal’• ‘Radical translation’ of Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq wins International Booker prize‘Human beings and their basic nature are the same everywhere,” Banu Mushtaq says. “That is the intention of my writing. The theme is woman, the theme is marginalised people, the theme is to be a voice to the voiceless community.”Mushtaq, from the Karnataka region of southern India, has been “awake all night”, she says, as we speak on the morning after she won the International Booker prize in London for her book Heart Lamp. The prize is shared between Mushtaq and her translator Deepa Bhasthi, who is also present – and also had no sleep. Continue reading...

Politics

18 h. ago Michelle de Kretser wins Stella prize for book that ‘expands our notions of what a novel can be’

The two-time Miles Franklin winner adds the $60,000 prize for women and nonbinary writers to her accolades, for a novel that troubles the line between fiction and memoirGet our weekend culture and lifestyle email“I wouldn’t say I set out to break forms, as to invent new ones,” Michelle de Kretser says of her novel Theory and Practice, winner of the $60,000 Stella prize for women and non-binary writers. “I wanted to write a novel where the reader thinks it isn’t a novel because I’m using nonfictional devices and forms.”Tricksy and sly, Theory and Practice – the Australian author’s eighth novel – troubles the line between fiction and memoir. It opens with several pages of another ostensibly unrelated novel that is abandoned in its early stages; the reader simply turns a page and is confronted with the line: “At that point, the novel I was writing stalled.” What comes after seems suspiciously like memoir – particularly to anyone vaguely familiar with de Kretser’s biography – following ...

Culture

19 h. ago National solving championship is open and ‘Chess Messi’ closing on record

Entry is free, the prize fund is expected to be £1,500, and the winner qualifies for the world solving championshipThis week’s puzzle is a chance to enter an annual national contest in which Guardian readers traditionally perform strongly and in considerable numbers. White in the diagram, playing as usual up the board, is to play and checkmate in two moves, against any black defence.The puzzle is the first stage of the annual Winton British Solving Championship, organised by the British Chess Problem Society. This competition is open only to British residents, and entry is free. To take part, simply send White’s first move to Nigel Dennis, Boundary House, 230 Greys Road, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 1QY or by email to winton@theproblemist.org. Continue reading...

Politics

65 h. ago Watch the moment Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp wins Booker Prize

Audience members rejoiced as Banu Mushtaq's Heart Lamp was announced as the winner of the International Booker Prize 2025 on Tuesday, 20 May.

Politics

3 d. ago International Booker Prize: The winner that will be showcased at 2025 Edinburgh International Book Festival

The author and translator of the winning book will appear at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Culture

3 d. ago International Booker Prize 2025: Banu Mushtaq wins for book ‘challenging Western stereotypes about Muslim life’

The 12 short stories, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, follow the lives of ordinary women living in southern India

Politics

3 d. ago Indian author Banu Mushtaq wins International Booker Prize with short story collection

Indian author Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi have won the International Booker Prize for fiction for “Heart Lamp,” a collection of 12 short stories written over a period of more than 30 years, chronicling the everyday lives and struggles of women in southern India

Culture

3 d. ago ‘Radical translation’ of Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq wins International Booker prize

Translator Deepa Bhasthi’s pick of 12 of Mushtaq’s ‘life-affirming’ tales about women’s lives in southern India becomes the first short story collection to win the £50,000 awardHeart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, has won this year’s International Booker prize for translated fiction, becoming the first short story collection to take the award. The stories were originally written in Kannada, the official language of the state of Karnataka in southern India.Described by the author and chair of judges Max Porter as “something genuinely new for English readers: a radical translation” of “beautiful, busy, life-affirming stories”, Heart Lamp’s 12 tales chronicle the lives of women in patriarchal communities in southern India. They were selected as well as translated by Bhasthi, the first Indian translator to win the award. She chose them from around 50 stories in six collections written by Mushtaq over a 30-year-period. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago A Danish Groundhog Day or tales of millennial angst What should win next week’s International Booker?

A headspinning novel from Japan alongside a high concept tale from Denmark, and a French account of migrant tragedy our critic weighs up the contendersWhat unites the books on the shortlist for this year’s International Booker prize? Brevity, for one thing: five of the six are under 200 pages, and half barely pass 100. They are works of precision and idiosyncrasy that don’t need space to make a big impression. Themes are both timely – AI, the migration crisis – and evergreen: middle-class ennui; the place of women in society. And for the second consecutive year, every book comes from an independent publisher, with four from tiny micropresses. Ahead of the winner announcement on 20 May, here’s our verdict on the shortlist.Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume, Book I (Faber, £12.99; translated by Barbara J Haveland) is easiest to introduce through the film Groundhog Day: its heroine, Danish antiquarian book dealer Tara Selter, is stuck in time. “It is the 18...

Politics

5 d. ago A Danish Groundhog Day or tales of millennial angst What should win this year’s International Booker?

A headspinning novel from Japan alongside a high concept tale from Denmark, and a French account of migrant tragedy our critic weighs up the contendersWhat unites the books on the shortlist for this year’s International Booker prize? Brevity, for one thing: five of the six are under 200 pages, and half barely pass 100. They are works of precision and idiosyncrasy that don’t need space to make a big impression. Themes are both timely – AI, the migration crisis – and evergreen: middle-class ennui; the place of women in society. And for the second consecutive year, every book comes from an independent publisher, with four from tiny micropresses. Ahead of the winner announcement on 20 May, here’s our verdict on the shortlist.Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume, Book I (Faber, £12.99; translated by Barbara J Haveland) is easiest to introduce through the film Groundhog Day: its heroine, Danish antiquarian book dealer Tara Selter, is stuck in time. “It is the 18...

Politics

8 d. ago Dylan Thomas Prize celebrates 20 years of young talent as 2025 winner is announced

The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize marks twenty years of celebrating young writers this year as the 2025 award is won by Palestinian author Yasmin Zaher for her debut novel The Coin

Politics

1 week ago Kazuo Ishiguro reveals why he prefers unfaithful film adaptations of his books

‘It’s a form of egomania,’ Nobel Prize winner said

Culture

1 week ago Palestinian Pulitzer Prize winner says 'I don’t want to compare suffering' in poignant interview

Mosab Abu Toha, a Palestinian poet and essayist, won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for his writing on Palestinian suffering during the Israeli conflict. In an awkward interview with MSNBC this is side-lined

Politics

1 week ago Piglet awarded in sports' maddest prize – winner let it do one thing before 'sausages'

On Sunday (May 11) the strangest prize in all of sport was handed out as Groupama–FDJ's Valentin Madouas took home a piglet named Leon, despite not winning the race

Events

2 w. ago National Lottery appealing for EuroMillions winner to claim more than £300,000 prize

The ticket holder has just ten days to come forward and claim their prize

Economics

2 w. ago Polly Noakes announced as winner of Oscar's Book Prize for 'touching' story of friendship

Just The Two Of Us was chosen ahead of five other titles

Politics

2 w. ago World snooker championship prize money: How much winner and finalist get paid

There is a handsome reward for achieving the highest break.

Sport

2 w. ago Prize money for World Snooker Championship final and how much winner will bank

The curtain comes down on an absorbing World Snooker Championship on Monday night, with Mark Williams and Zhao Xintong playing for a huge top prize at the Crucible

Economics

2 w. ago What time is World Snooker Championship final tonight? TV channel and live stream for Zhao Xintong vs Mark Williams

Zhao appears almost certain to become the first-ever Chinese winner of snooker’s biggest prize

Sport

2 w. ago The Traitors winner Harry Clark reveals exactly how he spent his £95,000 prize pot from the show

The Traitors winner Harry Clark has revealed exactly how he spent his £95,000 prize pot from the show.

Economics