2025 International Booker Prize: Kannada writer Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi longlisted

The International Booker Prize longlist of 13 books has been announced. This year 11 novels and two collections of short stories are in the running for the prize. Kannada writer Banu Mushtaq and translator Deepa Bhasthi’s Heart Lamp: Selected Stories is the only book nominated from India. It is forthcoming from Penguin Random House India and And Other Stories in the UK in April 2025.

This year’s jury is chaired by author Max Porter and the other judges are: poet and photographer Caleb Femi; writer and Publishing Director of Wasafiri Sana Goyal; author and translator Anton Hur; and singer-songwriter Beth Orton. The judges made their selection from 154 books submitted by publishers – the highest number since the prize was launched in its current format in 2016.

The cash prize of £50,000 will be divided equally between the writer and translator. In addition, there is a prize of £5,000 for each of the shortlisted titles: £2,500 for the author and £2,500 for the translator.

The shortlist of six books will be announced on April 8 and the winner, on May 20 at a ceremony at Tate Modern, London.

All 13 authors have been longlisted for the first time for the Prize, including three with their debut books and eight with their first English-language publications. A classic of queer literature, first published…

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