International Booker Prize: The winner that will be showcased at 2025 Edinburgh International Book Festival

A book translated from the Indian language of Kannada has won this year’s International Booker Prize, beating a shortlisted novel translated by a Scot.

Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, was named the 2025 winner of the International Booker Prize. Also on the six-strong shortlist was On the Calculation of Volume I by Danish author Solvej Balle, translated by Ayrshire-born Barbara J Haveland.

Ms Mushtaq and Ms Bhasthi will now both appear at an event during the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August.

The prize was announced by best-selling Booker Prize-longlisted author Max Porter, chair of the 2025 judges, at a ceremony in the Turbine Hall at London’s Tate Modern on Tuesday night. The International Booker Prize recognises the vital work of translation, with the £50,000 prize money divided equally between the author and the translator.

The judges said the winning collection of 12 short stories chronicles the resilience, resistance, wit and sisterhood of everyday women in patriarchal communities in southern India, vividly brought to life through a rich tradition of oral storytelling. It is the first time a book of short stories has won the award.

On the Calculation of Volume, translated from Danish by a Scottish translator, was among six books shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. | Booker Prize

Mr Porter said the shortlist had eventually been whittled down to three books, although he did not say which.

He said: “That’s why it was such a long day [for the judges]. There weren’t any books we wanted to get rid of straight away, it was impossible. Each one had a full hour-long conversation and then stayed on the table.”

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Fiammetta Rocco, administrator of the International Booker Prize, said: “Next year the prize celebrates ten years in its current form, and I am optimistic that the anniversary will lead more people to discover and embrace great translated fiction.”

The prize has helped to drive a boom in translated fiction in the UK, with print sales in 2023 reaching a record £26 million, up by 12 per cent on the previous year, according to Nielsen BookData.

Ms Rocco will be joined by one of this year’s judges, writer and publishing director of Wasafiri, Sana Goyal, and the winning author and translator of the International Booker Prize 2025 at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on August 15, as they discuss their book and the art of translation.