Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) and educated in India and England, where he attended King’s College and was a member of the Cambridge Footlights theatre company. He is the author of the novels Grimus; Midnight’s Children, which won the Booker Prize; Shame; The Moor’s Last Sigh; The Ground Beneath Her Feet; Fury ; Shalimar The Clown; and The Enchantress of Florence. His fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, which won the Whitbread Novel Award, centers on the adventures of two Indian actors who fall to earth in Britain when their Air India jet explodes, and lead to accusations of blasphemy against Islam. Iranian leadership issued a fatwa against the author, and he was forced into hiding under the protection of the British government and police. He has also written a children’s book, essays, criticism, short stories, theatrical adaptations, and a travel narrative. In 2007, he was knighted by the Queen and was named Distinguished Writer in Residence in the English Department at Emory University.
Photo Credit: © Beowulf Sheehan / PEN American Center
