Meistens bleibt ja die Frau zu Hause - Banu Mushtaq

Reading and conversation with Banu Mushtaq, moderated by Katharina Borchardt
in German and English

In her stories, created over three decades, Indian writer Banu Mushtaq portrays women who resist in their own, everyday way - in a country marked by classism and corruption. There is Aashraf, abandoned by her husband because she bears only daughters; Jamila, whose brother seeks to rob her of her inheritance in the name of religion; and Akhila, whose husband barely looks at her, yet comes alive like a young calf the moment his mother enters the room. What unites these women: their grief, their anger - and the courage to laugh in the face of the powerful.

Banu Mushtaq, born in 1948 in Hassan, Karnataka, India, is a writer, lawyer, and activist. Her story collection "Meistens bleibt ja die Frau zu Hause", translated by Katrin Binder, won the International Booker Prize in 2025 and is published in over 15 countries.

In collaboration with SWR Kultur.