Banu Mushtaq, 77, becomes the first Kannada writer to win the International Booker Prize for her collection "Heart Lamp," showcasing Muslim women's lives.

Equally commendable is the role of Deepa Bhasthi who translated Heart Lamp from Kannada to English without diluting the rawness of Mushtaq’s prose.

In a world ruled by men, gender is perhaps the only religion. Because being a girl – a poor girl, a girl with no agency, education or property rights – does go beyond caste ...