Literature festivals, where stories ignite resistance 

Explore the Jaipur Literature Festival's vibrant discussions on resistance, diversity, and contemporary issues through powerful storytelling and engaging performances.

A reader visiting Jaipur from London joined the serpentine queue for book signing after author Banu Mushtaq delivered a powerful keynote address on why listening carefully to lives that are not usually heard and writing about them is an act of resistance.

“I wouldn’t have heard of her but for the International Booker Prize,” she gushed. In her hand were two copies of Heart Lamp, a paperback released before Mushtaq’s win, and the other, a pretty hardback edition which came out post the 2025 Booker honour.

Young girls and boys lined up, and Mushtaq didn’t hurry through it, asking each their name, before putting her signature down in Kannada (her mother tongue is Dakhni Urdu), and thereby hangs a tale of the million diversities underlying Indian life.

By Day 3 of the 19th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) held earlier this month, many attendees, particularly women, agreed that Mushtaq’s was one of their favourite sessions for her words. “Banu is such a quiet firebrand,” said Madhu Sharma, avid reader and infrequent writer.

Banu Mushtaq signing books at The Hindu Lit for Life 2026 in Chennai. | Photo Credit: UMESH KUMAR V.

It was the first time that a selection of short stories had been awarded the International Booker, and it was a historic shout-out to Kannada literature too. The set of 12 stories, translated into English by Deepa Bhasthi, was picked from Mushtaq’s work spread over at least three decades. To cheers from the audience, Mushtaq said she has written half of her autobiography, but that the whirlwind journeys across the world post-win are not giving her time to finish it. A new anthology of stories in Kannada will be published this year.