Salman Rushdie

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is a British-Indian novelist and essayist. The only son of Anis Ahmed Rushdie and Negin Bhatt, he was born in Mumbai. His early education was in Mumbai, and later he studied History ...

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is a British-Indian novelist and essayist. The only son of Anis Ahmed Rushdie and Negin Bhatt, he was born in Mumbai. His early education was in Mumbai, and later he studied History at King's College, Cambridge. He worked for two advertising agencies before becoming a full-time writer. His early influences included James Joyce, Günter Grass, Jorge Luis Borges, Mikhail Bulgakov, and Lewis Carroll.
His first novel, Grimus a part-science fiction tale, was generally ignored by the public and literary critics however his next novel, Midnight's Children, catapulted him to literary heights and is regarded by many as one of the greatest books in the last 100 years. This work won the 1981 Booker Prize and, in 1993 and 2008 it was awarded the Best of the Bookers as the best novel to have received the prize during its first 25 and 40 years. This book significantly shaped the course of Indian writing in English to follow over the next decade. After Midnight's Children, Rushdie wrote Shame (1983), in which he depicted the political turmoil in Pakistan. Shame was a close runner-up for the Booker Prize. Both these works of postcolonial literature are characterised by a style of magic realism.
His most controversial work, The Satanic Verses, was published in 1988. This book drew a lot of controversy and protest from Muslims in several countries. Some of the protests were violent and death threats were issued to him including a fatwa by the spiritual leader from Iran.
He has also written some short storied and commercially successful novels including Shalimar the Clown, in 2005, that fetched him several awards.
Apart from winning awards for his literary works he has also been honored with several titles. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for "services to literature" in June 2007. He began a five-year term as Distinguished Writer in Residence at Emory University in 2007, He holds the rank Commandeur in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France. In May 2008 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2008, The Times ranked Rushdie thirteenth on their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
Rushdie is currently collaborating on the screenplay for the cinematic adaptation of his novel Midnight's Children with noted director Deepa Mehta and ealy this year he announced that he has begun writing his memoir.

Submitted by Precious Pheirim.