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Mushtaq, a writer, lawyer, and activist from Karnataka, India, spoke candidly about the multiple identities shaping her work. “Through my identities only I have been recognised,” she said. “As a Muslim woman writer of Kannada, as an advocate, as a social activist, as a journalist. All these roles have a common thread: they are pro-people.”
Her book Heart Lamp, translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi, is a landmark for Kannada literature, focusing on the lives of Muslim women in southern India whose quiet resilience forms the book’s emotional core. Mushtaq highlighted one story, High-Heeled Shoe, following a pregnant woman navigating personal challenges. “That is her resistance,” she said. “Even in silence, there is strength.”
Mushtaq emphasised that resistance need not be overt to be meaningful. Her characters maintain the harmony of their homes while quietly challenging injustice. “My protagonists are tactful, not submissive. They are not cowards; they find their own ways to challenge what confines them.”
The session also explored identity’s multiple layers. “Each one of us lives under multiple identities,” Mushtaq said. “As a follower of faith, as a gender, as a profession—we are all many things at once.” She added that dignity unifies these identities, a principle vital to literature and public life.
Discussing self-censorship, particularly as a Muslim woman writer in contemporary India, Mushtaq shared the careful considerations behind her work. “I often think and rethink every word I write. Sometimes I close a passage and keep it in storage. That is my challenge and my reality.” Despite these constraints, her stories have resonated widely, inspiring readers to imagine new futures for her characters.
On the topic of artificial intelligence, Mushtaq expressed measured optimism. “We cannot condemn any invention,” she said. “What matters is how we use it. As long as people write, think, and feel, literature will survive.”
With over four decades of writing, including six short story collections, a novel, an essay collection, and poetry, Mushtaq continues to shape the global presence of Kannada literature. One of her stories, Kari Nagaragalu, inspired the National Award–winning film Hasina. Upcoming projects include her autobiography, a new short story collection, and a poetry volume.
As the session concluded, Mushtaq reflected on the significance of the International Booker Prize. “It is not just my victory,” she said. “It is the voice of many women, many struggles, that has been heard beyond borders.”
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