Sessions
Keynote: Being Banu, Being ಬಂಡಾಯ (Baṇḍāya)
Banu Mushtaq with Prateeti Punja Ballal
Bio
Banu Mushtaq is a writer, activist and lawyer from Hassan, Karnataka. Her collected short stories, Hasina Mattu Itara Kathegalu, sit alongside her poetry, essays and a novel, all deeply rooted in justice and lived experience. She translated the Domestic Violence Act into Kannada as a legal resource, and brought Adil Shahi literature from Urdu into Kannada. Her work has travelled across languages—Urdu, English, Malayalam, Tamil, Punjabi. A film based on her story, Hasina, won three National Awards. Among her many accolades, the crowning glory is Heart Lamp, the English translation of her stories, which won the International Booker Prize in 2025—an honour for her, and for Kannada literature itself.