Petals and thorns: India’s Booker prize author Banu Mushtaq

HASSAN, India: All writers draw on their experience, whether consciously or not, says Indian author Banu Mushtaq — including the titular tale of attempted self-immolation in her International Booker Prize-winning short story collection. Mushtaq, who won the coveted literature prize as the first author writing in Kannada — an Indian regional language — said the author’s responsibility is to reflect the truth. “You cannot simply write describing a rose,” said the 77-year-old, who is also a lawyer and activist. “You cannot say it has got such a fragrance, such petals, such color.

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