Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. You know, sometimes I forget that

it is a privilege to be able to crack open a book, that I can walk down to the library, find

something I'm interested in, and just start reading. I'm in my feelings about this right now because

of today's interview. It's with Banu Mushtak and her translator,

Diba Bashdi, talking about their book Heartlamp. It's a short story collection about the lives of Muslim women in India. Some of the stories were inspired by women Banu Mushtak knew.

Others were inspired by her own life, including one story where the main character attempts

suicide. And in this interview

with Herein Now's Asma Khalid, Mouhtok talked about being in a marriage where she wasn't free

to chase her own intellectual pursuits, which to her felt like being in a cage. That's ahead.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,

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Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

This year's winner of the prestigious International Booker Prize, which is given to a work translated into English, achieved a lot of first.

It was the first time the prize was awarded to a short story collection.

The first time it was awarded to an author writing in Canada, that's a language spoken in the

Southern Indian state of Carnotica. And the first time a translator from India won the award.

The book is titled Heartlamp. It tells the stories of women who live in southern India,

often surviving in poverty, struggling against patriarchal systems, yet somehow still finding

in inner resilience. They're not necessarily deeply sad stories. They are melancholy at times

...