Salman Rushdie

Sir

Salman Rushdie

CH FRSL
Rushdie in 2024
Rushdie in 2024
BornAhmed Salman Rushdie
(1947-06-19) 19 June 1947 (age 77)
Bombay, British India
Occupation
  • Writer
  • professor
Citizenship
  • India (until 1964)
  • United Kingdom (from 1964)[1]
  • United States (from 2016)
EducationKing's College, Cambridge (BA)
Genre
Subject
Spouse
Clarissa Luard
​
​
(m. 1976; div. 1987)​
​
​
(m. 1988; div. 1993)​
Elizabeth West
​
​
(m. 1997; div. 2004)​
​
​
(m. 2004; div. 2007)​
​
​
(m. 2021)​
Children2
RelativesNatalie Rushdie (daughter-in-law)
Signature
Website
salmanrushdie.com

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie CH FRSL (/sʌlˈmɑːn ˈrʊʃdi/ sul-MAHN RUUSH-dee;[2] born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist.[3] His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, typically set on the Indian subcontinent. Rushdie's second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two occasions, marking the 25th and the 40th anniversary of the prize.

After his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), Rushdie became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats, including a fatwa calling for his death issued by Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran. In total, 20 countries banned the book.[4] Numerous killings and bombings have been carried out by extremists who cite the book as motivation, sparking a debate about censorship and religiously motivated violence. In 2022, Rushdie survived a stabbing at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York.[5]

In 1983, Rushdie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was appointed a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1999.[6] Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for his services to literature.[7] In 2008, The Times ranked him 13th on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.[8] Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States. He was named Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University in 2015.[9] Earlier, he taught at Emory University. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2012, he published Joseph Anton: A Memoir, an account of his life in the wake of the events following The Satanic Verses. Rushdie was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in April 2023.[10]

Rushdie's personal life, including his five marriages and four divorces, has attracted notable media attention and controversies, particularly during his marriage to actress Padma Lakshmi.[11][12][13]

  1. ^ "Salman Rushdie". Oxford Reference. Archived from the original on 23 September 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  2. ^ Pointon, Graham (ed.): BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names, second edition. Oxford Paperbacks, 1990.
  3. ^ Taseer, Aatish (2 August 2019). "'That the world that you knew, and that in a way made you – that world vanishes. I don't think I'm alone in that,' says Salman Rushdie". openthemagazine.com. Open. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  4. ^ Foroutan, Parnaz (16 April 2022). "Salman Rushdie's stabbing is part of an American phenomenon". NBC News. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  5. ^ Gelles, David; Root, Jay; Harris, Elizabeth (12 August 2022). "Live Updates: Salman Rushdie Is Stabbed During Speech in Western New York". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  6. ^ "Rushdie to Receive Top Literary Award ." Chicago Tribune. 7 January 1999. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  7. ^ "Birthday Honours List – United Kingdom." The London Gazette 58358(1):B1. 16 June 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2012. Archived 16 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "The 50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945". Archived 19 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine The Times, 5 January 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2010. Subscription required.
  9. ^ "Distinguished Professionals in Residence". Archived from the original on 5 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Time 100". Time. 13 April 2023. Archived from the original on 13 April 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  11. ^ "Controversy man Salman Rushdie". India Today. 24 January 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  12. ^ Bain, Ellissa (13 August 2022). "Who is Salman Rushdie's wife? Inside his four marriages". HITC. Archived from the original on 13 August 2022. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  13. ^ "6 unexpected revelations from Padma Lakshmi's memoir that shocked the world". India Today. 1 September 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2024.