‘Youngsters search for literature that speaks to their anxieties’

Chennai: Rejecting the accusation that young people do not read, Kannada author and Booker Prize winner Banu Mustaq on Sunday said young people are searching for literature that speaks to their anxieties, their moral dilemmas and their dreams."When we offer honest writing rooted in reality, there is more passion and seriousness. The responsibility lies with us writers, publishers, educators, policy makers to keep literature alive, fearless and truthful," she said at the valedictory function of the fourth edition of Chennai International Book Fair (CIBF). Banu Mustaq received the International Booker Prize in 2025 for her collection of Kannada short stories "Heart Lamp".She commended Tamil Nadu govt for continuing to invest in libraries, book fairs, translations, writers and giving access to books. "This reflects the political understanding that a society that reads is a society that questions. The society that questions cannot be easily manipulated. Here, books are not confined to elites' drawing rooms. They travel to schools, villages, working class neighbourhoods, women's collectives, and first-generation learners," she said."It is a matter of pride that Perumal Murugan, whose writing emerges from the soil, silence and struggles of Tamil life, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Equally, it is not a coincidence that Kannada literature won the Booker Prize in 2025 These are global recognitions of Dravidian literary strength," she said. She added that Dravidian languages carry within them centuries of questioning of caste, patriarchy, power and injustice. "Dravidian mindset understands that education is the foundation of equality, rationality is the basis of freedom, and self-respect is the core of justice. This mindset shaped literature that stands with the oppressed. That is why Dravidian literature has always been people-centric," said Banu.