New Delhi: Karnataka cheif minister Siddaramaiah has announced that 2025 International Booker prize winner Banu Mushtaq will be inaugurating this year’s Mysuru Dasara festival, The Hindu reported.

Speaking at Vidhan Soudha on Friday (August 22), Siddaramaiah said that the Mysuru district administration will be extending an official invitation to the author.

Musthtaq has involved herself in farmers’ struggles, several progressive movements and fought for the cause of Kannada, he said.

The author, who is currently on a visit to Bahrain, told The Hindu that she received information through friends. “I am happy on being invited to inaugurate the festival,” she said.

Siddaramaiah also said that Union defence minister Rajnath Singh has been invited to witness the grand annual event, which will be held for 11 days. Singh has also given green signal for holding airshow during Dasara festivities.

A Kannada language writer, activist and lawyer from Karnataka, Mushtaq came into spotlight this year after winning the Booker prize, along with translator Deepa Bhasthi, for her short story collection Heart Lamp, published by Penguin India.

Originally written in Kannada – titled as Edeya Hanathe – between 1990 and 2023. She has also won the Karnataka Sahithya Academy and Daana Chintamani Attimabbe awards, while Bhasthi was a recipient of the PEN Translates award last year.

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