Meistens bleibt ja die Frau zuhause

Winner of the International Booker Prize 2025
First translation directly from Kannada into German

Banu Mushtaq gained worldwide recognition after winning the International Booker Prize 2025. Now her story collection "Meistens bleibt ja die Frau zu Hause" appears for the first time in German translation. Twelve compelling stories about twelve women in India who resist religious constraints, family expectations, and social injustice.

Ashraf is abandoned by her husband because she bears him only daughters. Jamila faces being stripped of her inheritance in the name of religion. Akhila lives with a man who barely speaks to her, yet becomes animated whenever he encounters his mother. All three share the experience that private decisions are rarely private. Yet Banu Mushtaq does not tell only of oppression and injustice. Her characters meet the demands of their daily lives with wit, persistence, and surprising resilience.

The stories unfold in a world marked by social inequality, corruption, and patriarchal structures. With great clarity, empathy, and often subtle humour, Banu Mushtaq portrays both small and large acts of female self-assertion. Her stories speak of grief and anger, but also of dignity, solidarity, and hope - and raise questions that extend far beyond India.

These texts were written over three decades and originally composed in Kannada, one of South India's major literary languages. The fact that they are now being translated directly from Kannada into German for the first time is a literary distinction. In this way, Banu Mushtaq opens access to a significant literary tradition that has barely been noticed in the German-speaking world.