View source for Biography:Salman Rushdie

{{Short description|Indian-born British-American novelist (born 1947)}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Salman Rushdie
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CH|FRSL|size=100%}}
| image            = Salman Rushdie 2014 (cropped).jpg
| caption          = Rushdie in 2014
| birth_name       = Ahmed Salman Rushdie
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1947|06|19|df=y}}
| birth_place      = Bombay<!-- redirects to {{wipe|Mumbai}} -->, Bombay Presidency, [[History:British Raj|British India]]<br/>(now {{wipe|Mumbai}}, Maharashtra, {{wipe|India}})
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| occupation       = {{Cslist|Writer|professor}}
| citizenship      = {{plainlist |
* United Kingdom (since 1964)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Salman Rushdie|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100433765|access-date=2022-08-21|website=Oxford Reference|language=en|archive-date=23 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220923145236/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100433765|url-status=live}}</ref>
* United States (since 2016) }}
| education        = [[Organization:King's College, Cambridge|King's College, Cambridge]] (BA)
| genre            = {{flatlist |
* Magic realism
* [[Social:Satire|satire]]
* [[Philosophy:Postcolonialism|postcolonialism]] }}
| subject          = {{flatlist |
* [[Religion:Historical criticism|Historical criticism]]
* travel writing }}
| notable_works    = {{plainlist |
* ''Midnight's Children'' (1981)
* ''[[Religion:The Satanic Verses|The Satanic Verses]]'' (1988)
* ''Shalimar the Clown'' (2005) }}
| spouse           = {{plainlist |
* {{marriage|Clarissa Luard|1976|1987|end=div}}
* {{marriage|Marianne Wiggins|1988|1993|end=div}}
* {{marriage|Elizabeth West|1997|2004|end=div}}
* {{marriage|Padma Lakshmi|2004|2007|end=div}}
* {{marriage|Rachel Eliza Griffiths|2021}}
}}
| children         = 2
| relatives        = Natalie Rushdie (daughter-in-law)
| website          = {{URL|salmanrushdie.com}}
| awards           = {{Indented plainlist |
* {{awards|Booker Prize|1981|Midnight's Children}}
* {{awards|{{lang|fr|Ordre des Arts et des Lettres}}|1999|name={{lang|fr|Commandeur}}}}
* {{awards|Knight Bachelor|2007}} }}
| signature        = Rushdie signature.svg
}}

'''Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CH|FRSL}} ({{IPAc-en|s|æ|l|ˈ|m|ɑː|n|_|ˈ|r|ʊ|ʃ|d|i}};<ref>Pointon, Graham (ed.): ''BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names'', second edition. Oxford Paperbacks, 1990.</ref> born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://openthemagazine.com/columns/open-conversation/that-the-world-that-you-knew-and-that-in-a-way-made-you-that-world-vanishes-i-dont-think-im-alone-in-that-says-salman-rushdie/|first=Aatish|last=Taseer|website=openthemagazine.com|publisher=Open|title='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|date=2 August 2019|access-date=5 August 2019|archive-date=5 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190805051233/https://openthemagazine.com/columns/open-conversation/that-the-world-that-you-knew-and-that-in-a-way-made-you-that-world-vanishes-i-dont-think-im-alone-in-that-says-salman-rushdie/|url-status=live}}</ref> His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between [[Place:Eastern world|Eastern]] and Western civilizations, typically set on the [[Earth:Indian subcontinent|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, ''[[Religion:The Satanic Verses|The Satanic Verses]]'' (1988), Rushdie became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats, including a ''[[Religion:Fatwa|fatwa]]'' calling for his death issued by [[Biography:Ruhollah Khomeini|Ruhollah Khomeini]], the supreme leader of Iran. 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, a man stabbed Rushdie after rushing onto the stage where the novelist was scheduled to deliver a lecture at an event in Chautauqua, New York.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Gelles |first1=David |last2=Root |first2=Jay |last3=Harris |first3=Elizabeth |date=12 August 2022 |title=Live Updates: Salman Rushdie Is Stabbed During Speech in Western New York |url=https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/08/12/nyregion/salman-rushdie-stabbed-new-york |access-date=12 August 2022 |website={{wipe|The New York Times}} |archive-date=12 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812163021/https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/08/12/nyregion/salman-rushdie-stabbed-new-york |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1983, Rushdie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was appointed a {{lang|fr|Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres}} of France in 1999.<ref>"[http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-01-07/news/9901070421_1_indian-born-writer-british-novelist-salman-rushdie-fatwa Rushdie to Receive Top Literary Award] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505130624/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-01-07/news/9901070421_1_indian-born-writer-british-novelist-salman-rushdie-fatwa |date=5 May 2012 }}." ''Chicago Tribune.'' 7 January 1999. Retrieved 26 March 2012.</ref> [[Religion:Salman Rushdie knighthood controversy|Rushdie was knighted]] in 2007 for his services to literature.<ref>"[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/58358/supplements/page.htm Birthday Honours List – United Kingdom]." ''The London Gazette'' 58358(1):B1. 16 June 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2012. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116101644/http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/58358/supplements/page.htm|date=16 January 2013}}</ref> In 2008, ''The Times'' ranked him 13th on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.<ref>[https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-50-greatest-british-writers-since-1945-ws3g69xrf90 "The 50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219025130/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-50-greatest-british-writers-since-1945-ws3g69xrf90 |date=19 February 2020 }} ''The Times'', 5 January 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2010. Subscription required.</ref> Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States. He was named Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of [[Organization:New York University|New York University]] in 2015.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://journalism.nyu.edu/about-us/faculty/distinguished-professionals-in-residence/ |title=Distinguished Professionals in Residence |access-date=4 April 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405170144/https://journalism.nyu.edu/about-us/faculty/distinguished-professionals-in-residence/ |archive-date=5 April 2017 }}</ref> Earlier, he taught at [[Organization:Emory University|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 ''{{wipe|Time (magazine)}}'' magazine in April 2023.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2023/ |title=Time 100 |magazine={{wipe|Time (magazine)}} |date=13 April 2023 |access-date=15 April 2023 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413151502/https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2023/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Biography==
===Early life and family background===
Ahmed Salman Rushdie<ref>{{cite news|title=Salman Rushdie claims victory in Facebook name battle|publisher=BBC News|date=15 November 2011|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15733026|access-date=16 June 2017|archive-date=26 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170626024809/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15733026|url-status=live}}</ref> was born in Bombay on 19 June 1947<ref name="BritshC">{{cite web|url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/salman-rushdie|title=Salman Rushdie – Literature|website=literature.britishcouncil.org|access-date=24 December 2018|archive-date=29 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190829213354/https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/salman-rushdie|url-status=live}}</ref> during the [[History:British Raj|British Raj]], into an Indian Kashmiri Muslim family.<ref name="Kashmiri">[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3889 ''Literary Encyclopedia'': "Salman Rushdie"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191012011816/https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3889 |date=12 October 2019 }}. Retrieved 20 January 2008</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rushdie.htm |title=Salman Rushdie |website=Books and Writers |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=Kuusankoski Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080113033937/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rushdie.htm |archive-date=13 January 2008 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> He is the son of Anis Ahmed Rushdie, a [[Organization:University of Cambridge|Cambridge]]-educated lawyer-turned-businessman, and Negin Bhatt, a teacher. Rushdie's father was dismissed from the Indian Civil Services (ICS) after it emerged that the birth certificate submitted by him had changes to make him appear younger than he was.<ref>{{cite news |title=Revealed after 76 yrs: Rushdie's dad's secret humiliation in London |url=https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/cover-story//articleshow/16179053.cms |website=mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com |access-date=13 September 2018 |date=15 December 2014 |archive-date=19 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619140432/https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/cover-story//articleshow/16179053.cms |url-status=live }}</ref> Rushdie has three sisters.<ref name="EmoryUniv">{{YouTube|id=kmb1oQcRmkM&t=10m42s|title=Salman Rushdie Discusses Creativity and Digital Scholarship with Erika Farr}}</ref> He wrote in his 2012 memoir that his father adopted the name Rushdie in honour of [[Biography:Averroes|Averroes]] (Ibn Rushd).

Rushdie grew up in Bombay and was educated at the Cathedral and John Connon School in Fort, South Bombay, before moving to {{wipe|England}} in 1954 to attend Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, and then [[Organization:King's College, Cambridge|King's College, Cambridge]], from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history.<ref name="BritshC" />

===Personal life===
Rushdie has married five times and divorced four times, and has had at least one other significant relationship. He was first married to Clarissa Luard,<ref>Descended from the gentry family LUARD, formerly of Byborough. See Burke's Landed Gentry 18th edn. vol. 1 (1965), p. 465, col. 2.</ref> literature officer of the Arts Council of England,<ref>{{cite journal|first=Susheila|last=Nasta|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02690050008589686?journalCode=rwas20|title=Clarissa Luard 1948–1999|journal=Wasafiri|date=18 July 2008|volume=15|issue=31|page=59|doi=10.1080/02690050008589686|s2cid=162777055|access-date=13 August 2022|archive-date=13 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813100624/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02690050008589686?journalCode=rwas20|url-status=live}}</ref> from 1976 to 1987. The couple had a son, Zafar, born in 1979,<ref>Free BMD website. Birth registered Q3 1979 Camden.</ref> who is married to the London-based jazz singer Natalie Rushdie.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Kim |first=Leena |date=1 November 2016 |title=Zafar Rushdie and Natalie Coyle Marry in His Father Salman's Adopted City |url=http://www.townandcountrymag.com/the-scene/weddings/a8188/zafar-rushdie-natalie-coyle-wedding/ |magazine=Town & Country |location=New York |publisher=Hearst Communications |access-date=3 October 2017 |archive-date=4 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004043934/http://www.townandcountrymag.com/the-scene/weddings/a8188/zafar-rushdie-natalie-coyle-wedding/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He left Clarissa Luard in the mid-1980s for the Australian writer Robyn Davidson, to whom he was introduced by their mutual friend Bruce Chatwin.<ref>Bruce Chatwin, letter to Ninette Dutton, 1 November 1984, in ''Under the Sun: The Letters of Bruce Chatwin'', ed. Elizabeth Chatwin and Nicholas Shakespeare, p. 395</ref> Rushdie and Davidson never married, and they had split up by the time his divorce from Clarissa came through in 1987. Rushdie's second wife was the American novelist Marianne Wiggins; they were married in 1988 and divorced in 1993.<ref>{{cite news |last=Grove |first=Lloyd |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1989/03/07/rushdie-wiggins-uncommon-bond/46de9f08-5873-4d44-8aae-6704d7725361/ |title=Rushdie Wiggins' Uncommon Bond |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=7 March 1989 |accessdate=12 August 2022 |archive-date=12 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812180441/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1989/03/07/rushdie-wiggins-uncommon-bond/46de9f08-5873-4d44-8aae-6704d7725361/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-03-03-mn-271-story.html|title=Rushdie Granted Divorce From American Wife|date=3 March 1993|website=Los Angeles Times|accessdate=12 August 2022|archive-date=12 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812180434/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-03-03-mn-271-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> His third wife, from 1997 to 2004, was British editor and author Elizabeth West;<ref>{{cite news|first=Ellissa|last=Bain|url=https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2022/08/13/who-is-salman-rushdies-wife-inside-his-four-marriages/|title=Who is Salman Rushdie's wife? Inside his four marriages|work=HITC|date=13 August 2022|access-date=13 August 2022|archive-date=13 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813090443/https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2022/08/13/who-is-salman-rushdies-wife-inside-his-four-marriages/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://us.macmillan.com/author/elizabethwest|title=Elizabeth West|work=usmacmillan.com|access-date=13 August 2022|archive-date=4 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204014640/https://us.macmillan.com/author/elizabethwest|url-status=live}}</ref> they have a son, Milan, born in 1997.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/you-saw-an-illusion-and-you-destroyed-your-family-for-it-20120917-2612h.html |title='You saw an illusion and you destroyed your family for it.' |first=Salman|last=Rushdie|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=22 September 2012 |access-date=12 August 2022 |archive-date=12 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812180433/https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/you-saw-an-illusion-and-you-destroyed-your-family-for-it-20120917-2612h.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2004, very shortly after his third divorce, Rushdie married Padma Lakshmi, an Indian-born actress, model, and host of the American reality-television show ''Top Chef''. Rushdie stated that Lakshmi had asked for a divorce in January 2007,<ref>{{cite news|last=Anthony|first=Andrew|title=The Bookers' favourite|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/apr/06/classics.salmanrushdie|newspaper=The Guardian|date=6 April 2008|access-date=4 September 2022|quote=By this he means the end of his marriage. In January of 2007, Lakshmi asked for a divorce.|archive-date=5 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905013629/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/apr/06/classics.salmanrushdie|url-status=live}}</ref> and later that year, in July, the couple filed it.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=ed1a664d-9538-487b-9f0b-9bc4b4e5330c |first=Julie|last= Keller| date= 3 July 2007 | newspaper = E! | title= Rushdie, ''Top Chef'' Wife Skewer Marriage | archive-date= 30 September 2007 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070930190150/http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=ed1a664d-9538-487b-9f0b-9bc4b4e5330c}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Atad|first=Corey|title=Padma Lakshmi Is 'Relieved' That Ex-Husband Salman Rushdie Is Recovering After Stabbing Attack|url=https://etcanada.com/news/920393/padma-lakshmi-is-relieved-that-ex-husband-salman-rushdie-is-recovering-after-stabbing-attack/|date=14 August 2022|access-date=4 September 2022|website=ET Canada|quote=They filed for divorce in 2007.|archive-date=5 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905013632/https://etcanada.com/news/920393/padma-lakshmi-is-relieved-that-ex-husband-salman-rushdie-is-recovering-after-stabbing-attack/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2021, Rushdie married American poet and novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/02/13/salman-rushdie-recovery-victory-city|title=The Defiance of Salman Rusdhie|magazine=The New Yorker|first=David|last=Remnick|date=6 February 2023|access-date=6 February 2023|archive-date=6 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206112814/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/02/13/salman-rushdie-recovery-victory-city|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1999, Rushdie had an operation to correct ptosis, a problem with the levator palpebrae superioris muscle that causes drooping of the upper eyelid. According to Rushdie, it made it increasingly difficult for him to open his eyes. "If I hadn't had an operation, in a couple of years from now I wouldn't have been able to open my eyes at all", he said.<ref>"[http://www.cnn.com/books/news/9904/15/rushdie/ "Rushdie: New book out from under shadow of fatwa"], CNN, 15 April 1999. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528051847/http://www.cnn.com/books/news/9904/15/rushdie/ |date=28 May 2010 }} Retrieved 21 April 2007.</ref>

Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States, mostly near Union Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City.<ref>Holson, Laura M., [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/fashion/salman-rushdie-out-of-exile-is-a-fixture-on-the-social-scene.html "From Exile to Everywhere"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120821160323/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/fashion/salman-rushdie-out-of-exile-is-a-fixture-on-the-social-scene.html |date=21 August 2012}}, ''The New York Times'', 23 March 2012 (online), 25 March 2012 (print). Retrieved 26 March 2012.</ref> He is a fan of the English football club Tottenham Hotspur.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Collie|first1=Ashley|title=Shakespeare's Hotspur Would Be Proud to See His Namesake Tottenham Hotspur Leading Another British Invasion of America|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ashley-jude-collie/shakespeares-hotspur-woul_b_7836846.html|access-date=5 September 2017|website=HuffingtonPost.com|date=21 July 2015|publisher=HPMG News|archive-date=19 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919030034/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ashley-jude-collie/shakespeares-hotspur-woul_b_7836846.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Career==
===Copywriter===
Rushdie worked as a copywriter for the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, where he came up with "irresistibubble" for Aero and "Naughty but Nice" for cream cakes, and for the agency Ayer Barker (until 1982), for whom he wrote the line "That'll do nicely" for [[Company:American Express|American Express]].<ref name=southasiandiaspora>Ravikrishnan, Ashutosh. [http://southasiandiaspora.org/salman-rushdie-midnights-child/ Salman Rushdie's Midnight Child] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130415232311/http://southasiandiaspora.org/salman-rushdie-midnights-child/ |date=15 April 2013 }}. South Asian Diaspora. 25 July 2012.</ref> Collaborating with musician Ronnie Bond, Rushdie wrote the words for an advertising record on behalf of the now defunct Burnley Building Society that was recorded at Good Earth Studios, London. The song was called "The Best Dreams" and was sung by George Chandler.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jan/22/danglaister|title=After the Satanic Verses, the romantic lyrics|first1=Dan|last1=Glaister|last2=Arts Correspondent|date=22 January 1999|access-date=24 December 2018|newspaper=The Guardian|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224121930/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jan/22/danglaister|url-status=live}}</ref> It was while at Ogilvy that Rushdie wrote ''Midnight's Children'', before becoming a full-time writer.<ref>"[http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth87 Salman Rushdie biography] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501041146/http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth87 |date=1 May 2007 }}", 2004, British Council. Retrieved 20 January 2008.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/negative-because-there-is-little-positive-to-say-1.417082|title=Negative because there is little positive to say|newspaper=The Herald|location=Glasgow|first=George|last=Birrell|date=18 January 1997|access-date=9 December 2010|archive-date=16 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140616062041/http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/negative-because-there-is-little-positive-to-say-1.417082|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article699728.ece "The birth pangs of Midnight's Children"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706152327/https://www.the-tls.co.uk/ |date=6 July 2022 }}, ''TLS'', 1 April 2006.</ref>

===Literary works===

==== Early works and literary breakthrough, 1975–1987 ====
Rushdie's first novel, ''Grimus'' (1975), a part-science fiction tale, was generally ignored by the public and literary critics. His next novel, ''Midnight's Children'' (1981), catapulted him to literary notability. This work won the 1981 Booker Prize and, in 1993 and 2008, was awarded the Best of the Bookers as the best novel to have received the prize during its first 25 and 40 years.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/1099 |title = Readers across the world agree that Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children is the Best of the Booker. |year = 2008 |access-date = 10 July 2008 |publisher = Man Booker Prizes |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081011052625/http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/1099 |archive-date = 11 October 2008 |df = dmy-all}}</ref> ''Midnight's Children'' follows the life of a child, born at the stroke of midnight as India gained its independence, who is endowed with special powers and a connection to other children born at the dawn of a new and tumultuous age in the history of the Indian sub-continent and the birth of the modern nation of India. The character of Saleem Sinai has been compared to Rushdie.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Review/One_more_bouquet_for_Saleem_Sinai/articleshow/3254751.cms|title=One more bouquet for Saleem Sinai|first=Nina|last=Martyris|newspaper=The Times of India|date=20 July 2008|quote=Saleem is not Salman (although he marries a Padma) and Saleem's grandfather Dr Aadam Aziz is not him either, but there is a touching prescience at work here. In the opening pages of Midnight's Children, Dr Aziz while bending down on his prayer mat, bumps his nose on a hard tussock of earth. His nose bleeds and his eyes water and he decides then and there that never again will he bow before God or man. "This decision, however, made a hole in him, a vacancy in a vital inner chamber, leaving him vulnerable to women and history." Battered by a fatwa and one femme fatale too many, Salman would have some understanding of this.|access-date=7 November 2008|archive-date=12 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090112235447/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Review/One_more_bouquet_for_Saleem_Sinai/articleshow/3254751.cms|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the author refuted the idea of having written any of his characters as autobiographical, stating, "People assume that because certain things in the character are drawn from your own experience, it just becomes you. In that sense, I've never felt that I've written an autobiographical character."<ref name=Meer>{{cite journal|last1=Meer|first1=Ameena|title=Interview: Salman Rushdie|journal=Bomb|date=1989|volume=27|issue=Spring|url=http://bombmagazine.org/article/1199/|access-date=22 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402111324/http://bombmagazine.org/article/1199/|archive-date=2 April 2015}}</ref>

After ''Midnight's Children'', Rushdie wrote ''Shame'' (1983), in which he depicts the political turmoil in Pakistan, basing his characters on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. ''Shame'' won France's ''Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger'' (Best Foreign Book) and was a close runner-up for the Booker Prize. Both these works of [[History:Postcolonial literature|postcolonial literature]] are characterised by a style of magic realism and the immigrant outlook that Rushdie is very conscious of as a member of the Kashmiri diaspora.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Rushdie wrote a non-fiction book about Nicaragua in 1987 called ''The Jaguar Smile''. This book has a political focus and is based on his first-hand experiences and research at the scene of Sandinista political experiments. He became interested in Nicaragua after he had been a neighbour of Madame Somoza, wife of the former Nicaraguan dictator, and his son Zafar was born around the time of the Nicaraguan revolution.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KIllAAAAIBAJ&dq=salman+rushdie+hope+somoza&pg=PA20&article_id=246,2829822|title=Salman Rushdie in Nicaragua: A rendezvous with revolution|first=Seetha|last=Kumar|work=The Indian Express|date=15 February 1987|access-date=12 August 2022|archive-date=12 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812180433/https://books.google.com/books?id=KIllAAAAIBAJ&dq=salman+rushdie+hope+somoza&pg=PA20&article_id=246,2829822|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== ''The Satanic Verses'' and ''Haroun and the Sea of Stories'', 1988–1990 ====
His most controversial work, ''[[Religion:The Satanic Verses|The Satanic Verses]]'', was published in 1988 (see section below). It was followed by ''Haroun and the Sea of Stories'' in 1990. Written in the shadow of a fatwa, it is about the dangers of story-telling and an allegorical defence of the power of stories over silence.<ref name="BritshC" />

==== Further works, 1990s–2000s ====
In addition to novels, Rushdie has published many short stories, including those collected in ''East, West'' (1994). ''The Moor's Last Sigh'', a family epic ranging over some 100 years of India's history was published in 1995. ''The Ground Beneath Her Feet'' (1999) is a remaking of the myth of [[Biography:Orpheus|Orpheus]] that presents an alternative history of modern rock music.<ref>[https://www.salmanrushdie.com/the-ground-beneath-her-feet/ "The Ground Beneath her Feet"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191011193504/https://www.salmanrushdie.com/the-ground-beneath-her-feet/ |date=11 October 2019 }} at Salman Rushdie.com.</ref> The song of the same name by U2 is one of many song lyrics included in the book; hence Rushdie is credited as the lyricist.<ref name="guardian-jan99">{{Cite news|title=After the Satanic Verses, the romantic lyrics|newspaper={{wipe|The Guardian}}|first=Dan|last=Glaister|date=22 January 1999|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jan/22/danglaister|access-date=25 December 2016|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224121930/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jan/22/danglaister|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Salman-Rushdie-1.jpg|thumb|upright|Salman Rushdie presenting his book ''Shalimar the Clown'']]

Following the novel ''Fury'', set mainly in New York and avoiding the previous sprawling narrative style that spans generations, periods and places, Rushdie's 2005 novel ''Shalimar the Clown'', a story about love and betrayal set in [[Place:Kashmir|Kashmir]] and {{wipe|Los Angeles}}, was hailed as a return to form by a number of critics.<ref name="BritshC" />

In his 2002 non-fiction collection ''Step Across This Line'', he professes his admiration for the Italian writer Italo Calvino and the American writer Thomas Pynchon, among others. His early influences included [[Biography:Jorge Luis Borges|Jorge Luis Borges]], Mikhail Bulgakov, [[Biography:Lewis Carroll|Lewis Carroll]], Günter Grass and [[Biography:James Joyce|James Joyce]]. Rushdie was a personal friend of Angela Carter's and praised her highly in the foreword of her collection ''Burning your Boats''.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

2008 saw the publication of ''The Enchantress of Florence'', one of Rushdie's most challenging works that focuses on the past. It tells the story of a European's visit to [[Biography:Akbar|Akbar]]'s court, and his revelation that he is a lost relative of the Mughal emperor. The novel was praised in a review in ''{{wipe|The Guardian}}'' as a "sumptuous mixture of history with fable".<ref name="BritshC" />

His novel ''Luka and the Fire of Life'', a sequel to ''Haroun and the Sea of Stories'', was published in November 2010 to critical acclaim.<ref name="BritshC" /> Earlier that year, he announced that he was writing his memoirs,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/12/salman-rushdie-fatwa-memoir|title=Salman Rushdie at work on fatwa memoir|first=Benedicte|last=Page|newspaper=The Guardian|date=12 October 2010|access-date=14 September 2012|archive-date=15 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415202944/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/12/salman-rushdie-fatwa-memoir|url-status=live}}</ref> entitled ''Joseph Anton: A Memoir'', which was published in September 2012.

In 2012, Rushdie became one of the first major authors to embrace Booktrack (a company that synchronises ebooks with customised soundtracks), when he published his short story "In the South" on the platform.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://booktrack.serveronline.net/blog/?p=164|title=Salman Rushdie Collaborates With Booktrack and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Booktrack Launches A New E-reader Platform|publisher=Booktrack|access-date=2 July 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140404115658/http://booktrack.serveronline.net/blog/?p=164|archive-date=4 April 2014}}</ref>

====Later works, novels, and essays, 2015–2023====
2015 saw the publication of Rushdie's novel ''Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights'', a shift back to his old beloved style of magic realism. This novel is designed in the structure of a Chinese mystery box with different layers. Based on the central conflict of scholar Ibn Rushd (from whom Rushdie's family name derives), Rushdie goes on to explore several themes of [[Social:Transnationalism|transnationalism]] and [[Philosophy:Cosmopolitanism|cosmopolitanism]] by depicting a war of the universe which a supernatural world of jinns also accompanies.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

In 2017, ''The Golden House'', a satirical novel set in contemporary America, was published. 2019 saw the publication of Rushdie's fourteenth novel ''Quichotte'', inspired by Miguel de Cervantes' classic novel ''Don Quixote''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/3023936/salman-rushdies-quichotte-brings-cervantes-epic-don |title=Salman Rushdie's Quichotte brings Cervantes' epic Don Quixote into the modern age |last=Kidd |first=James |date=24 August 2019 |website=South China Morning Post |access-date=22 August 2022 |archive-date=17 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817181154/https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/3023936/salman-rushdies-quichotte-brings-cervantes-epic-don |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2021. ''Languages of Truth'', a collection of essays written between 2003 and 2020 was published.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/616882/languages-of-truth-by-salman-rushdie/ |title=Languages of Truth by Salman Rushdie |publisher=Penguin Random House |access-date=26 May 2021 |archive-date=8 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008100922/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/616882/languages-of-truth-by-salman-rushdie/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Rushdie's fifteenth novel ''Victory City'', described as an epic tale of a woman who breathes a fantastical empire into existence, was published in February 2023.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/673660/victory-city-by-salman-rushdie/ |title=Victory City by Salman Rushdie |publisher=Penguin Random House |access-date=16 November 2023 |archive-date=27 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927115649/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/673660/victory-city-by-salman-rushdie/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The book is Rushdie's first released work since he was attacked and injured in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gruber |first=Fiona |date=8 February 2023 |title=Salman Rushdie's new novel is a tale of power, exile and steely defiance |url=https://www.theage.com.au/culture/books/salman-rushdie-s-new-novel-is-a-tale-of-power-exile-and-steely-defiance-20230206-p5ci6z.html |access-date=14 February 2023 |website=The Age |language=en |archive-date=13 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230213215519/https://www.theage.com.au/culture/books/salman-rushdie-s-new-novel-is-a-tale-of-power-exile-and-steely-defiance-20230206-p5ci6z.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Critical reception===
Rushdie has had a string of commercially successful and critically acclaimed novels. His works have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times, in 1981 for ''Midnight's Children'', 1983 for ''Shame'', 1988 for ''[[Religion:The Satanic Verses|The Satanic Verses]]'', 1995 for ''The Moor's Last Sigh'', and in 2019 for ''Quichotte''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2019/09/04/138599/booker-prize-2019-shortlist-announced/|title=Booker Prize 2019 shortlist announced|date=4 September 2019|website=Books+Publishing|language=en-AU|access-date=6 September 2019|archive-date=6 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190906071059/https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2019/09/04/138599/booker-prize-2019-shortlist-announced/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1981, he was awarded the prize.<ref name="Children">{{cite news|last1=Jordison|first1=Sam|title=Midnight's Children is the right winner|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2008/jul/10/bestofbooker|work=The Guardian|date=10 July 2008|access-date=25 November 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404015749/https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2008/jul/10/bestofbooker|url-status=live}}</ref> His 2005 novel ''Shalimar the Clown'' received the prestigious Hutch Crossword Book Award, and, in the UK, was a finalist for the Whitbread Book Awards. It was shortlisted for the 2007 International Dublin Literary Award.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.impacdublinaward.ie/2007/shortlist.htm | title=The 2007 Shortlist | year=2007 | access-date=5 April 2007 | publisher=Dublin City Public Libraries/International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429175834/http://www.impacdublinaward.ie/2007/shortlist.htm | archive-date=29 April 2007 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> Rushdie's works have spawned 30 book-length studies and over 700 articles on his writing.<ref name="BritshC" /> He is frequently mentioned a favourite to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/04/salman-rushdie-among-favourites-for-this-years-nobel-prize-for-literature |title=Salman Rushdie among favourites for this year's Nobel prize for literature |work=The Guardian |date=4 October 2022 |access-date=13 November 2022 |archive-date=13 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113121554/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/04/salman-rushdie-among-favourites-for-this-years-nobel-prize-for-literature |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/09/05/its-time-for-salman-rushdies-nobel-prize |title=It's time for Salman Rushdie's Nobel prize |magazine=The New Yorker |date=5 September 2022 |access-date=13 November 2022 |archive-date=13 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221113153420/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/09/05/its-time-for-salman-rushdies-nobel-prize |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Academic and other activities===
Rushdie has mentored younger Indian (and ethnic-Indian) writers, influenced an entire generation of Indo-Anglian writers, and is an influential writer in [[History:Postcolonial literature|postcolonial literature]] in general.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/SalmanRushdie.html |title=Demonizing Discourse in Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses |author=Brian Finney |date=1998 |website=[[Organization:California State University, Long Beach|California State University, Long Beach]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000829042338/http://www.csulb.edu/~bhfinney/SalmanRushdie.html |archive-date=29 August 2000}}</ref> He opposed the British government's introduction of the ''Racial and Religious Hatred Act'', something he writes about in his contribution to ''Free Expression Is No Offence'', a collection of essays by several writers, published by [[Company:Penguin Group|Penguin]] in November 2005.

[[File:Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie.jpg|thumb|left|Salman Rushdie having a discussion with Emory University students]]Rushdie was the President of PEN American Center from 2004 to 2006 and founder of the PEN World Voices Festival.<ref>{{cite news|last=Rohter|first=Larry|date=7 May 2012|title=Rushdie Brings PEN Festival to Close|work=The New York Times|url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/rushdie-brings-pen-festival-to-close/|access-date=6 August 2012|archive-date=16 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616144053/http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/rushdie-brings-pen-festival-to-close/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2007, he began a five-year term as Distinguished Writer in Residence at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where he has also deposited his archives. In May 2008, he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.<ref>[http://www.artsandletters.org/academicians2.php Academicians Database] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504085720/http://www.artsandletters.org/academicians2.php|date=4 May 2012}}, American Academy of Arts and Letters. Retrieved 26 March 2012.</ref> In 2014, he taught a seminar on British Literature and served as the 2015 keynote speaker<ref>{{cite web|date=6 October 2006|title=Salman Rushdie to Teach and Place His Archive at Emory University|url=http://news.emory.edu/Releases/RushdieProfessorship1160159900.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206005645/http://news.emory.edu/Releases/RushdieProfessorship1160159900.html|archive-date=6 December 2006|access-date=26 March 2012|publisher=Emory University Office of Media Relations}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.emory.edu/stories/2015/05/er_commencement_rushdie_interview/campus.html|first=Kimber|last=Williams|website=Emory Report|title=Rushdie reflects on more than a decade of Emory experiences|date=7 May 2015|access-date=22 October 2019|archive-date=22 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022211650/https://news.emory.edu/stories/2015/05/er_commencement_rushdie_interview/campus.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In September 2015, he joined the [[Organization:New York University|New York University]] Journalism Faculty as a Distinguished Writer in Residence.<ref>{{cite web|date=5 March 2015|title=New Distinguished Writer in Residence: Salman Rushdie|url=https://journalism.nyu.edu/about-us/news-post/2015/03/05/new-distinguished-writer-in-residence-salman-rushdie/|access-date=24 December 2018|website=NYU Journalism|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224121916/https://journalism.nyu.edu/about-us/news-post/2015/03/05/new-distinguished-writer-in-residence-salman-rushdie/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Rushdie is a member of the advisory board of The Lunchbox Fund,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thelunchboxfund.org/|title=The Lunchbox Fund|website=thelunchboxfund.org|access-date=5 September 2021|archive-date=6 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906163434/https://www.thelunchboxfund.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> a non-profit organisation that provides daily meals to students of township schools in Soweto of South Africa. He is a member of the advisory board of the [[Organization:Secular Coalition for America|Secular Coalition for America]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://secular.org/profile/salman-rushdie/|title=Salman Rushdie|website=Secular Coalition for America|access-date=31 October 2021|archive-date=31 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031111921/https://secular.org/profile/salman-rushdie/|url-status=live}}</ref> an advocacy group representing the interests of atheistic and humanistic Americans in Washington, D.C., and a patron of [[Organization:Humanists UK|Humanists UK]] (formerly the British Humanist Association). He is a laureate of the International Academy of Humanism.<ref name="bha2017">{{cite web|title=Salman Rushdie Author and Patron of the BHA|url=https://humanism.org.uk/about/our-people/patrons/Salman-Rushdie/|access-date=7 March 2017|website=British Humanist Association|archive-date=8 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308044337/https://humanism.org.uk/about/our-people/patrons/Salman-Rushdie/|url-status=live}}</ref> In November 2010 he became a founding patron of [[Organization:Ralston College|Ralston College]], a new liberal arts college that has adopted as its motto a Latin translation of a phrase ("free speech is life itself") from an address he gave at [[Organization:Columbia University|Columbia University]] in 1991 to mark the 200th anniversary of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.<ref>{{cite web|title=Collegium Ralstonianum apud Savannenses – Home|url=http://www.ralston.ac|access-date=11 November 2012|publisher=Ralston.ac|archive-date=16 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416012053/https://www.ralston.ac/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Film and television===
[[File:9.21.14WritersLifePanelByLuigiNovi18.jpg|thumb|Rushdie, right, with writers Catherine Lacey and Siri Hustvedt at the 2014 Brooklyn Book Festival]]Though he enjoys writing, Rushdie says he would have become an actor if his writing career had not been successful. From early childhood, he dreamed of appearing in Hollywood films (which he later realised in his frequent cameo appearances).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Salman Rushdie |url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0750723/ |access-date=27 August 2022 |website=IMDb |archive-date=20 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120164504/http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0750723/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Rushdie includes fictional television and movie characters in some of his writings. He had a [[Engineering:Cameo appearance|cameo appearance]] in the film ''Bridget Jones's Diary'' based on the book of the same name, which is itself full of literary in-jokes. On 12 May 2006, Rushdie was a guest host on ''The Charlie Rose Show'', where he interviewed Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, whose 2005 film, ''Water'', faced violent protests. He appears in the role of Helen Hunt's [[Medicine:Obstetrics and gynaecology|obstetrician-gynaecologist]] in the film adaptation (Hunt's directorial debut) of Elinor Lipman's novel ''Then She Found Me''. In September 2008, and again in March 2009, he appeared as a panellist on the HBO programme ''Real Time with Bill Maher''. Rushdie has said that he was approached for a cameo in ''Talladega Nights'': "They had this idea, just one shot in which three very, very unlikely people were seen as NASCAR drivers. And I think they approached Julian Schnabel, Lou Reed, and me. We were all supposed to be wearing the uniforms and the helmet, walking in slow motion with the heat haze." In the end, their schedules did not allow for it.<ref>{{cite web|title=Salman Rushdie: 'The curse of an interesting life'|date=27 March 2013 |url=http://the-talks.com/interviews/salman-rushdie/|publisher=The Talks|access-date=5 April 2013|archive-date=1 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130401055210/http://the-talks.com/interviews/salman-rushdie/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2009, Rushdie signed a petition in support of film director Roman Polanski, calling for his release after Polanski was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his 1977 charge for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://laregledujeu.org/2009/11/10/479/signez-la-petition-pour-roman-polanski/ |title=Signez la pétition pour Roman Polanski! |trans-title=Sign the petition for Roman Polanski! |date=10 November 2009 |website=La Règle du jeu |language=fr |access-date=29 August 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210829153459/https://laregledujeu.org/2009/11/10/479/signez-la-petition-pour-roman-polanski/ |archive-date=29 August 2021 }}</ref>

Rushdie collaborated on the screenplay for the cinematic adaptation of his novel ''Midnight's Children'' with director Deepa Mehta. The film was also called ''Midnight's Children''.<ref name=visits>{{cite news |url=http://movies.indiatimes.com/International/Rushdie-visits-Mumbai-for-Midnights-Children-film-/articleshow/5432895.cms |title=Rushdie visits Mumbai for 'Midnight's Children' film |work=The Times of India |date=11 January 2010 |access-date=13 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114151659/http://movies.indiatimes.com/International/Rushdie-visits-Mumbai-for-Midnights-Children-film-/articleshow/5432895.cms |archive-date=14 January 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Subhash K. Jha |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-01-13/news-interviews/28121143_1_deepa-mehta-bt-midnight-s-children |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811030544/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-01-13/news-interviews/28121143_1_deepa-mehta-bt-midnight-s-children |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 August 2011 |title=I'm a film buff: Rushdie |date=13 January 2010 |work=The Times of India |access-date=13 March 2010}}</ref> Seema Biswas, Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Dreaming-of-Midnight-s-Children/563437/ |title=Dreaming of Midnight's Children |work=The Indian Express |date=5 January 2010 |access-date=13 March 2010 |archive-date=8 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110508024643/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Dreaming-of-Midnight-s-Children/563437/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and Irrfan Khan participated in the film.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/Irrfan-moves-from-Mira-Nair-to-Deepa-Mehta/H1-Article1-499416.aspx |title=Irrfan moves from Mira Nair to Deepa Mehta |work=Hindustan Times |date=20 January 2010 |access-date=13 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304213538/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Irrfan-moves-from-Mira-Nair-to-Deepa-Mehta/H1-Article1-499416.aspx |archive-date=4 March 2010 }}</ref> Production began in September 2010;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/interviewscinema/T-te-t-te-with-Deepa-Mehta/493632/H1-Article1-493584.aspx |title=Tête-à-tête with Deepa Mehta |work=Hindustan Times |date=4 January 2010 |access-date=13 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100312235349/http://www.hindustantimes.com/interviewscinema/T-te-t-te-with-Deepa-Mehta/493632/H1-Article1-493584.aspx |archive-date=12 March 2010 }}</ref> the film was released in 2012.

Rushdie announced in June 2011 that he had written the first draft of a script for a new television series for the US cable network Showtime, a project on which he will also serve as an executive producer. The new series, to be called ''The Next People'', will be, according to Rushdie, "a sort of paranoid science-fiction series, people disappearing and being replaced by other people." The idea of a television series was suggested by his US agents, said Rushdie, who felt that television would allow him more creative control than feature film. ''The Next People'' is being made by the British film production company Working Title, the firm behind projects including ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' and ''Shaun of the Dead''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Salman Rushdie says TV drama series have taken the place of novels|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jun/12/salman-rushdie-write-tv-drama|newspaper=The Guardian|date=12 June 2011|access-date=11 June 2011|last=Thorpe|first=Vanessa|location=London|archive-date=26 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226104900/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jun/12/salman-rushdie-write-tv-drama|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2017, Rushdie appeared as himself in episode 3 of season 9 of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hbo.com/curb-your-enthusiasm/season-9|title=Curb Your Enthusiasm – Season 9|website=HBO|access-date=26 December 2017|archive-date=27 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227235450/https://www.hbo.com/curb-your-enthusiasm/season-9|url-status=live}}</ref> sharing scenes with Larry David to offer advice on how Larry should deal with the ''fatwa'' that has been ordered against him.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/curb-your-enthusiasm-salman-rushdie-inspiring-larry-davids-fatwa-1045630/ | title=Salman Rushdie on Inspiring the New Season of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' | website=The Hollywood Reporter | date=4 October 2017 | access-date=12 August 2022 | archive-date=26 January 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126180611/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/curb-your-enthusiasm-salman-rushdie-inspiring-larry-davids-fatwa-1045630/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/curb-your-enthusiasm-larry-davids-fatwa-salman-rushdies-cameo-1049316/ | title=How 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Kept Salman Rushdie's Fatwa Cameo a Secret | website=The Hollywood Reporter | date=17 October 2017 | access-date=12 August 2022 | archive-date=26 January 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126104733/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/curb-your-enthusiasm-larry-davids-fatwa-salman-rushdies-cameo-1049316/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

==''The Satanic Verses'' and the ''fatwā''{{anchor|Satanic Verses and the fatwā}}==

The publication of ''[[Religion:The Satanic Verses|The Satanic Verses]]'' by Viking Penguin in September 1988 caused immediate controversy in the Islamic world because of what was seen by some to be an irreverent depiction of [[Biography:Muhammad|Muhammad]]. The title refers to a disputed [[Religion:Hadith|Muslim tradition]] that is referenced in the book. According to this tradition, Muhammad (Mahound in the book) added verses (''[[Religion:Ayah|Ayah]]'') to the Qur'an accepting three Arabian pagan goddesses who were worshiped in [[Place:Mecca|Mecca]] as divine beings. According to the legend, Muhammad later revoked the verses, saying the devil tempted him to utter these lines to appease the Meccans (hence the "Satanic" verses). However, the narrator reveals to the reader that these disputed verses were actually from the mouth of the [[Biography:Gabriel|Archangel Gabriel]]. The book was banned in many countries with large Muslim communities (13 in total: Iran, India, Bangladesh, Sudan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Thailand, Tanzania, Indonesia, Singapore, Venezuela, and Pakistan).

In response to the protests, on 22 January 1989, Rushdie published a column in ''The Observer'' that called Muhammad "one of the great geniuses of world history," but noted that Islamic doctrine holds Muhammad to be human, and in no way perfect. He held that the novel is not "an anti-religious novel. It is, however, an attempt to write about migration, its stresses and transformations."<ref name=Observer>{{cite news|last1=Rushdie|first1=Salman|title=Choice between light and dark|work=The Observer|date=22 January 1989}}</ref>

On 14 February 1989—Valentine's Day, and also the day of his close friend Bruce Chatwin's funeral—a ''fatwā'' ordering Rushdie's execution was proclaimed on Radio Tehran by [[Religion:Ayatollah|Ayatollah]] [[Biography:Ruhollah Khomeini|Khomeini]], the Supreme leader of Iran at the time, calling the book "[[Religion:Blasphemy|blasphemous]] against Islam". Chapter IV of the book depicts the character of an Imam in exile who returns to incite revolt from the people of his country with no regard for their safety. According to Khomeini's son, his father never read the book.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=14 August 2022 |title=Ayatollah Khomeini Never Read Salman Rushdie's Book |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/ayatollah-khomeini-never-read-salman-rushdies-book |access-date=14 August 2022 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |archive-date=14 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814200317/https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/ayatollah-khomeini-never-read-salman-rushdies-book |url-status=live }}</ref> A bounty was offered for Rushdie's death,<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/salman-rushdie-iranian-state-media-renew-fatwa-on-satanic-verses-author-with-600000-bounty-a6887141.html|title=Iranian state media has put a $600,000 bounty on Salman Rushdie's head|first=Samuel|last=Osborne|date=21 February 2016|website=The Independent|access-date=24 December 2018|archive-date=29 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929090017/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/salman-rushdie-iranian-state-media-renew-fatwa-on-satanic-verses-author-with-600000-bounty-a6887141.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and he was thus forced to live under police protection for several years.<ref name="independent.co.uk"/> On 7 March 1989, the United Kingdom and [[Religion:Iran|Iran]] broke diplomatic relations over the Rushdie controversy.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/08/world/iran-breaks-off-relations-with-britian.html|title=Iran Breaks Off Relations With Britain|first1=Sheila|last1=Rule|newspaper=The New York Times|date=8 March 1989|access-date=24 January 2019|archive-date=25 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525113255/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/08/world/iran-breaks-off-relations-with-britian.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

When, on BBC Radio 4, he was asked for a response to the threat, Rushdie said, "Frankly, I wish I had written a more critical book," and "I'm very sad that it should have happened. It's not true that this book is a blasphemy against Islam. I doubt very much that Khomeini or anyone else in Iran has read the book or more than selected extracts out of context."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/1989/feb/15/salmanrushdie|title=Rushdie in hiding after Ayatollah's death threat|first=Peter|last=Murtagh|newspaper=The Guardian |date=15 February 1989|access-date=24 December 2018|via=www.theguardian.com|archive-date=20 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120221045/https://www.theguardian.com/books/1989/feb/15/salmanrushdie|url-status=live}}</ref> Later, he wrote that he was "proud, then and always", of that statement; while he did not feel his book was especially critical of Islam, "a religion whose leaders behaved in this way could probably use a little criticism."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Rushdie|first=Salman|title=The Disappeared|date=10 September 2012|url=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/17/120917fa_fact_rushdie|magazine=The New Yorker |issue=17 September 2012|page= 50|access-date=16 September 2012|archive-date=1 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140701140621/http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/17/120917fa_fact_rushdie|url-status=live}}</ref>

The publication of the book and the ''fatwā'' sparked violence around the world, with bookstores firebombed.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/29/satanic-verses-sowed-seeds-of-rift-grown-ever-wider|title=The Satanic Verses sowed the seeds of rifts that have grown ever wider – Kenan Malik|first=Kenan|last=Malik|newspaper=The Observer |date=29 September 2018|access-date=24 December 2018|via=www.theguardian.com|archive-date=3 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203221040/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/29/satanic-verses-sowed-seeds-of-rift-grown-ever-wider|url-status=live}}</ref> Muslim communities in several nations in the West held public rallies, burning copies of the book.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/07/satanic-verses-salman-rushdie-low-point|title=The Satanic Verses affair marked a low point for politicians – Letters|newspaper=The Observer |date=7 October 2018|access-date=24 December 2018|via=www.theguardian.com|archive-date=7 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181207084729/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/07/satanic-verses-salman-rushdie-low-point|url-status=live}}</ref> Several people associated with translating or publishing the book were attacked, seriously injured, and even killed.{{efn|See Hitoshi Igarashi, Ettore Capriolo, William Nygaard.}} Many more people died in riots in some countries. Despite the danger posed by the fatwā, Rushdie made a public appearance at London's Wembley Stadium on 11 August 1993, during a concert by U2. In 2010, U2 bassist Adam Clayton recalled that "lead vocalist Bono had been calling Salman Rushdie from the stage every night on the Zoo TV tour. When we played Wembley, Salman showed up in person and the stadium erupted. You [could] tell from [drummer] Larry Mullen, Jr.'s face that we weren't expecting it. Salman was a regular visitor after that. He had a backstage pass and he used it as often as possible. For a man who was supposed to be in hiding, it was remarkably easy to see him around the place."<ref>{{cite news|title=Stairway to Devon − OK, Somerset!|work=Q|date=July 2010|page=101|author=U2|}}</ref>

On 24 September 1998, as a precondition to the restoration of diplomatic relations with the UK, the Iranian government, then headed by Mohammad Khatami, gave a public commitment that it would "neither support nor hinder assassination operations on Rushdie."<ref name="Tomb">{{cite news|date=8 June 2005|title=Tomb of the unknown assassin reveals mission to kill Rushdie|first=Anthony|last= Loyd|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article531110.ece|work=The Times |location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601171205/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article531110.ece|archive-date=1 June 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/26/newsid_2542000/2542873.stm|publisher=BBC News: On This Day|title=26 December 1990: Iranian leader upholds Rushdie fatwa|access-date=10 October 2006|date=26 December 1990|archive-date=7 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407120528/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/26/newsid_2542000/2542873.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hardliners in Iran have continued to reaffirm the death sentence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.meforum.org/article/1002|publisher=The Middle East Forum: Promoting American Interests|title=Can Iran Be Trusted?|last=Rubin|first=Michael|date=1 September 2006|access-date=10 October 2006|archive-date=26 October 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061026203104/http://www.meforum.org/article/1002|url-status=live}}</ref> In early 2005, Khomeini's ''fatwā'' was reaffirmed by Iran's current leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a message to Muslim pilgrims making the [[Religion:Hajj|annual pilgrimage]] to [[Place:Mecca|Mecca]].<ref name="webster-bbc">{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article414681.ece|work=The Times |title=Ayatollah revives the death fatwa on Salman Rushdie|last1=Webster|first1=Philip|last2=Hoyle|first2=Ben|last3=Navai|first3=Ramita|date=20 January 2005|access-date=10 October 2006|location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303071409/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article414681.ece |archive-date=3 March 2007}}</ref> Additionally, the Revolutionary Guards declared that the death sentence on him is still valid.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4260599.stm |work=BBC News |title=Iran adamant over Rushdie fatwa|date=12 February 2005|access-date=10 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060206020617/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4260599.stm|archive-date=6 February 2006}}</ref>

Rushdie has reported that he still receives a "sort of Valentine's card" from Iran each year on 14 February letting him know the country has not forgotten the vow to kill him and has jokingly referred it as "my unfunny Valentine".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/02/15/my-unfunny-valentine |magazine=The New Yorker |title=My Unfunny Valentine |first=Salman |last=Rushdie |date=15 February 1999 |access-date=7 November 2017 |archive-date=1 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801072423/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/02/15/my-unfunny-valentine |url-status=live }}</ref> He said, "It's reached the point where it's a piece of rhetoric rather than a real threat."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2007021501382200.htm&date=2007/02/15/&prd=th&date=2007/02/15/&prd=th&|title=Rushdie's term|website=The Hindu|access-date=15 February 2007}}</ref> Despite the threats on Rushdie personally, he said that his family has never been threatened, and that his mother, who lived in Pakistan during the later years of her life, even received outpourings of support. Rushdie himself has been prevented from entering Pakistan, however.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.davidcronenberg.de/cr_rushd.htm |title=Cronenberg meets Rushdie: David Cronenberg and Salman Rushdie talk... |magazine=Shift Magazine|date=June–July 1995|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070403045531/http://www.davidcronenberg.de/cr_rushd.htm |archive-date=3 April 2007 }}</ref>

A former bodyguard to Rushdie, Ron Evans, planned to publish a book recounting the behaviour of the author during the time he was in hiding. Evans said Rushdie tried to profit financially from the ''fatwa'' and was suicidal, but Rushdie dismissed the book as a "bunch of lies" and took legal action against Evans, his co-author and their publisher.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7538875.stm|title=Rushdie anger at policeman's book|publisher=BBC|date=2 August 2008|access-date=4 January 2010|archive-date=28 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090428212041/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7538875.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> On 26 August 2008, Rushdie received an apology at the High Court in London from all three parties.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7581842.stm|title=Bodyguard apologises to Rushdie|publisher=BBC|date=26 August 2008|access-date=4 January 2010|archive-date=17 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217223134/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7581842.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> A memoir of his years of hiding, ''Joseph Anton'', was released on 18 September 2012; "Joseph Anton" was Rushdie's secret alias during the height of the controversy.<ref name="fatwa memoir">{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|date=12 April 2012|title=Salman Rushdie reveals details of fatwa memoir|first=Alison|last=Flood|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/apr/12/salman-rushdie-reveals-fatwa-memoir|access-date=27 April 2012|location=London|archive-date=26 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226102636/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/apr/12/salman-rushdie-reveals-fatwa-memoir|url-status=live}}</ref>

In February 1997, Ayatollah Hasan Sane'i, leader of the ''bonyad panzdah-e khordad'' (Fifteenth of Khordad Foundation),
reported that the blood money offered by the foundation for the assassination of Rushdie would be increased from $2&nbsp;million to $2.5&nbsp;million.<ref name=buchta>{{cite book|last=Buchta|first=Wilfried|title=Who rules Iran?|year=2000|publisher=The Washington Institute and The Konrad Adenauer|page=6|url=http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/pubs/WhoRulesIran.pdf|access-date=11 November 2012|archive-date=24 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324173725/https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/pubs/WhoRulesIran.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Then a semi-official religious foundation in Iran increased the reward it had offered for the killing of Rushdie from $2.8&nbsp;million to $3.3&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite news|title=Iran adds to reward for Salman Rushdie's death|url=http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/iran_adds_to_reward_for_salman_rushdie_saVWIyfViyXOr0vgnUEvRK|author=Post Staff Report|date=16 September 2012|access-date=16 September 2012|newspaper=The New York Post|archive-date=19 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919231842/http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/iran_adds_to_reward_for_salman_rushdie_saVWIyfViyXOr0vgnUEvRK|url-status=live}}</ref>

In November 2015, former Indian minister P. Chidambaram acknowledged that banning ''The Satanic Verses'' was wrong.<ref>{{cite news|title=Govt's decision to ban Salman Rushdie's 'The Satanic Verses' was wrong, says P Chidambaram|url=http://www.firstpost.com/india/govts-decison-to-ban-salman-rushdies-the-satanic-verses-was-wrong-says-p-chidambaram-2525306.html|date=28 November 2015|access-date=17 October 2016|newspaper=Firstpost|archive-date=22 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122073815/http://www.firstpost.com/india/govts-decison-to-ban-salman-rushdies-the-satanic-verses-was-wrong-says-p-chidambaram-2525306.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/ban-on-salman-rushdies-book-by-rajiv-gandhi-govt-was-wrong-chidambaram/|title=Rajiv Gandhi govt's ban on Salman Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses' wrong: Chidambaram|date=29 November 2015|newspaper=The Indian Express|access-date=25 October 2016|archive-date=19 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019002419/http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/ban-on-salman-rushdies-book-by-rajiv-gandhi-govt-was-wrong-chidambaram/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1998, Iran's former president Mohammad Khatami proclaimed the fatwa "finished"; but it has never been officially lifted, and in fact has been reiterated several times by Ali Khamenei and other religious officials. Yet more money was added to the bounty in February 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/22/salman-rushdie-iranian-media-raise-more-money-for-fatwa|title=Salman Rushdie: Iranian media raise more money for fatwa|first=Sian|last=Cain|newspaper=The Guardian|date=22 February 2016|access-date=13 December 2016|archive-date=24 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160224172450/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/22/salman-rushdie-iranian-media-raise-more-money-for-fatwa|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Failed assassination attempt (1989)===
On 3 August 1989, while Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh was priming a book bomb loaded with [[Chemistry:RDX|RDX]] explosives in a hotel in Paddington, Central London, the bomb exploded prematurely, destroying two floors of the hotel and killing Mazeh. A previously unknown Lebanese group, the Organization of the Mujahidin of Islam, said he died preparing an attack "on the apostate Rushdie". There is a shrine in Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery for Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh that says he was "Martyred in London, 3 August 1989. The first martyr to die on a mission to kill Salman Rushdie." Mazeh's mother was invited to relocate to Iran, and the Islamic World Movement of Martyrs' Commemoration built his shrine in the cemetery that holds thousands of Iranian soldiers slain in the Iran–Iraq War.<ref name="Tomb"/>

==== Hezbollah's comments (2006) ====
During the 2006 [[Religion:Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy|''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy]], Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared that "If there had been a Muslim to carry out Imam Khomeini's ''fatwā'' against the renegade Salman Rushdie, this rabble who insult our Prophet Mohammed in Denmark, Norway and France would not have dared to do so. I am sure there are millions of Muslims who are ready to give their lives to defend our prophet's honour and we have to be ready to do anything for that."<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.natashatynes.com/newswire/2006/02/hezbollah_killi.html|date=2 February 2006|title=Hezbollah: Rushdie death would stop Prophet insults|agency=Agence France-Presse|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070807085216/http://www.natashatynes.com/newswire/2006/02/hezbollah_killi.html|archive-date= 7 August 2007|access-date=26 April 2012}}</ref>

===''International Guerillas'' (1990)===
In 1990, soon after the publication of ''The Satanic Verses'', a Pakistani film entitled ''International Gorillay'' (''International Guerillas'') was released that depicted Rushdie as a "James Bond-style villain" plotting to cause the downfall of Pakistan by opening a chain of casinos and discos in the country; he is ultimately killed at the end of the movie. The film was popular with Pakistani audiences, and it "presents Rushdie as a Rambo-like figure pursued by four Pakistani guerrillas".<ref name="Tamney">{{cite book|title=The Resilience of Conservative Religion: The Case of Popular, Conservative Protestant Congregations|first=Joseph Bernard |last=Tamney|publisher=The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge| location=Cambridge, UK|year=2002}}</ref> The British Board of Film Classification refused to allow it a certificate, as "it was felt that the portrayal of Rushdie might qualify as criminal libel, causing a breach of the peace as opposed to merely tarnishing his reputation." This effectively prevented the release of the film in the UK. Two months later, however, Rushdie himself wrote to the board, saying that while he thought the film "a distorted, incompetent piece of trash", he would not sue if it were released. He later said, "If that film had been banned, it would have become the hottest video in town: everyone would have seen it". While the film was a great hit in Pakistan, it went virtually unnoticed elsewhere.<ref name="IGlibel">{{cite web|title=International Guerrillas and Criminal Libel|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/460938/index.html|website=Screenonline|access-date=7 February 2008|archive-date=7 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907202150/http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/460938/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Al-Qaeda hit list (2010)===
In 2010,<ref>{{cite web|first=Scott|last= Stewart|date=22 July 2010|title=Fanning the Flames of Jihad|url=http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100721_fanning_flames_jihad|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130706135755/http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100721_fanning_flames_jihad|archive-date=6 July 2013|work=Security Weekly|publisher=Stratfor|quote=Inspire also features a "hit list" that includes the names of people like Westergaard who were involved in the cartoon controversy as well as other targets such as Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who produced the controversial film Fitna in 2008}}</ref> [[Biography:Anwar al-Awlaki|Anwar al-Awlaki]] published an Al-Qaeda hit list in ''Inspire'' magazine, including Rushdie along with other figures claimed to have insulted Islam, including Ayaan Hirsi Ali, cartoonist Lars Vilks, and three ''Jyllands-Posten'' staff members: Kurt Westergaard, Carsten Juste, and Flemming Rose.<ref name="thewire2013">{{cite web|first=Dashiell|last=Bennet|date=1 March 2013|title=Look Who's on Al Qaeda's Most-Wanted List|url=http://www.thewire.com/global/2013/03/al-qaeda-most-wanted-list/62673/|work=The Wire|access-date=15 January 2015|archive-date=17 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117025952/http://www.thewire.com/global/2013/03/al-qaeda-most-wanted-list/62673/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Conal Urquhart|title=Paris Police Say 12 Dead After Shooting at Charlie Hebdo|magazine=Time|url=http://time.com/3657246/paris-charlie-hebdo-shooting/|access-date=15 January 2015|archive-date=22 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122052445/http://time.com/3657246/paris-charlie-hebdo-shooting/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Victoria|last= Ward|title=Murdered Charlie Hebdo cartoonist was on al Qaeda wanted list|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11330505/Murdered-Charlie-Hebdo-cartoonist-was-on-al-Qaeda-wanted-list.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11330505/Murdered-Charlie-Hebdo-cartoonist-was-on-al-Qaeda-wanted-list.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|work=The Telegraph|date=7 January 2015}} </ref> The list was later expanded to include Stéphane "Charb" Charbonnier, who was murdered in a terror attack on ''Charlie Hebdo'' in Paris, along with 11 other people. After the attack, Al-Qaeda called for more killings.<ref>{{cite web|author=Lucy Cormack|date=8 January 2015|title=Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier crossed off chilling al-Qaeda hitlist|url=http://www.theage.com.au/world/charlie-hebdo-editor-stephane-charbonnier-crossed-off-chilling-alqaeda-hitlist-20150108-12k97z.html|work=The Age|access-date=15 January 2015|archive-date=11 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111014923/http://www.theage.com.au/world/charlie-hebdo-editor-stephane-charbonnier-crossed-off-chilling-alqaeda-hitlist-20150108-12k97z.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Rushdie expressed his support for ''Charlie Hebdo'', saying "I stand with ''Charlie Hebdo'', as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity&nbsp;... religious totalitarianism has caused a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam and we see the tragic consequences in Paris today."<ref>''{{wipe|Time (magazine)}}''. 7 January 2015. [http://time.com/3657541/charlie-hebdo-paris-terror-attack-salman-rushdie/ salman rushdie response] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115122910/http://time.com/3657541/charlie-hebdo-paris-terror-attack-salman-rushdie/ |date=15 January 2015 }}</ref> In response to the attack, Rushdie commented on what he perceived as victim-blaming in the media, stating: "You can dislike ''Charlie Hebdo''.... But the fact that you dislike them has nothing to do with their right to speak. The fact you dislike them certainly doesn't in any way excuse their murder."<ref>{{cite news|first=Wilson|last=Ring|date=15 January 2015|title=Salman Rushdie, threatened over book, defends free speech|url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/cb016b953bac485cb55b7ac214cecc3a/salman-rushdie-threatened-over-book-defends-free-speech|agency=Associated Press|access-date=15 January 2015|archive-date=24 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150124022443/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/cb016b953bac485cb55b7ac214cecc3a/salman-rushdie-threatened-over-book-defends-free-speech|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Jack|last=Thurston|date=15 January 2015|title=After Paris Attacks, Salman Rushdie Defends Absolute Right of Free Speech While in Vermont|url=http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Salman-Rushdie-Defends-Absolute-Right-of-Free-Speech-in-Vermont-288620891.html|work=NECN|publisher=NBC Universal|access-date=15 January 2015|archive-date=18 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118190652/http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Salman-Rushdie-Defends-Absolute-Right-of-Free-Speech-in-Vermont-288620891.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Jaipur Literature Festival (2012)===
Rushdie was due to appear at the Jaipur Literature Festival in January 2012 in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/program-2011/speakers-2012/#o|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125234432/http://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/program-2011/speakers-2012|url-status=dead|title=2012 Speakers|archive-date=25 January 2012}}</ref> However, he later cancelled his event appearance, and a further tour of India at the time, citing a possible threat to his life as the primary reason.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-20/india/30646521_1_jaipur-literature-festival-salman-rushdie-satanic-verses|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121201171235/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-20/india/30646521_1_jaipur-literature-festival-salman-rushdie-satanic-verses|url-status= dead|archive-date= 1 December 2012|title=Salman Rushdie not to attend Jaipur Literature Festival|last=Singh|first= Akhilesh Kumar|date=20 January 2012|work= The Times of India|access-date=20 January 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16644782|title=Salman Rushdie pulls out of Jaipur literature festival|date=20 January 2012|work=BBC News|access-date=20 January 2012|archive-date=20 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120175134/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16644782|url-status=live}}</ref> Several days after, he indicated that state police agencies had lied, in order to keep him away, when they informed him that paid assassins were being sent to Jaipur to kill him. Police contended that they were afraid Rushdie would read from the banned ''The Satanic Verses'', and that the threat was real, considering imminent protests by Muslim organizations.<ref name=virtual_rushdie_unwelcome/>

Meanwhile, Indian authors Ruchir Joshi, Jeet Thayil, Hari Kunzru and Amitava Kumar abruptly left the festival, and Jaipur, after reading excerpts from Rushdie's banned novel at the festival. The four were urged to leave by organizers as there was a real possibility they would be arrested.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-23/jaipur/30655383_1_jaipur-literature-festival-hari-kunzru-organizers|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120205203714/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-23/jaipur/30655383_1_jaipur-literature-festival-hari-kunzru-organizers|url-status= dead|archive-date= 5 February 2012|title= Salman Rushdie shadow on Jaipur Literature Festival: 4 authors who read from 'The Satanic Verses' sent packing|author1=Singh, Akhilesh Kumar |author2=Chowdhury, Shreya Roy |date=23 January 2012|work= The Times of India|access-date=23 January 2012}}</ref>

A proposed video link session between Rushdie and the Jaipur Literature Festival was also cancelled at the last minute<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/books/rushdies-video-talk-is-canceled-at-india-literature-festival.html|title=Rushdie's Video Talk Is Canceled at India Literature Festival|last=Gill|first=Nikhila|date=24 January 2012|work=The New York Times|access-date=6 December 2014|archive-date=14 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141214183749/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/books/rushdies-video-talk-is-canceled-at-india-literature-festival.html|url-status=live}}</ref> after the government pressured the festival to stop it.<ref name=virtual_rushdie_unwelcome>{{cite news |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-24/jaipur/30658450_1_rushdie-video-video-link-satanic-verses|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116101750/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-24/jaipur/30658450_1_rushdie-video-video-link-satanic-verses|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 January 2013|title= Jaipur Literature Festival: Even a virtual Rushdie is unwelcome for Rajasthan govt|author= Singh, Akhilesh Kumar|date=24 January 2012|work=The Times of India|access-date=24 January 2012}}</ref> Rushdie returned to India to address a conference in New Delhi on 16 March 2012.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17349023|work=BBC News|title=Salman Rushdie to be a 'presence' at India conference|date=13 March 2012|access-date=21 June 2018|archive-date=14 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190114170754/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17349023|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Chautauqua attack (2022)===
On 12 August 2022, while about to start a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, Rushdie was attacked by Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old Lebanese American who rushed onto the stage and stabbed him repeatedly, including in the neck and abdomen.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last1=Root |first1=Jay |last2=Gelles |first2=David |last3=Harris |first3=Elizabeth A. |last4=Jacobs |first4=Julia |date=12 August 2022 |title=Salman Rushdie on Ventilator Hours After Being Stabbed in Western New York |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/08/12/nyregion/salman-rushdie-stabbed-new-york |access-date=13 August 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=12 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812163021/https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/08/12/nyregion/salman-rushdie-stabbed-new-york |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Who is Hadi Matar? Everything we know about Salman Rushdie's alleged attacker {{!}} Fox News |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/hadi-matar-everything-we-know-salman-rushdies-alleged-attacker.amp |access-date=2024-01-12 |website=www.foxnews.com}}</ref> The attacker was pulled away before being taken into custody by a state trooper; Rushdie was airlifted to UPMC Hamot, a tertiary trauma centre in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he underwent surgery before being put on a ventilator.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Singh |first1=Kanishka |last2=Allen |first2=Jonathan |date=13 August 2022 |title=Salman Rushdie on ventilator after New York stabbing |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/author-salman-rushdie-attacked-stage-event-new-york-sky-news-2022-08-12/ |access-date=13 August 2022 |archive-date=12 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812170728/https://www.reuters.com/world/us/author-salman-rushdie-attacked-stage-event-new-york-sky-news-2022-08-12/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Security measures at UPMC Hamot were increased due to the potential threat of further attempts on his life. This included 24-hour protection with a security officer outside his room and searches being performed upon entry into the hospital. The suspect was identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news|last=Vargas|first=Ramon Antonio|date=12 August 2022|title=Police identify Salman Rushdie attack suspect as 24-year-old from New Jersey|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/12/salman-rushdie-attack-suspect-identified-hadi-matar|access-date=14 August 2022|work=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=13 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813012719/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/12/salman-rushdie-attack-suspect-identified-hadi-matar|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Singh|first1=Kanishka|last2=Allen|first2=Jonathan|date=12 August 2022|title=Salman Rushdie is stabbed in the neck at a New York lecture|language=en|publisher=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/author-salman-rushdie-attacked-stage-event-new-york-sky-news-2022-08-12/|url-status=live|access-date=14 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812170728/https://www.reuters.com/world/us/author-salman-rushdie-attacked-stage-event-new-york-sky-news-2022-08-12/|archive-date=12 August 2022}}</ref> Later in the day, Rushdie's agent, Andrew Wylie, confirmed that Rushdie had received stab injuries to the liver and hand, and that he might lose an eye.<ref>{{cite news |title=Salman Rushdie: Author on ventilator and unable to speak, agent says |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-62528689 |work=BBC News |date=13 August 2022 |access-date=13 August 2022 |archive-date=13 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813000655/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-62528689 |url-status=live }}</ref> A day later, Rushdie was taken off the ventilator and was able to speak.<ref name="AP Off Ventilator">{{cite news|url=https://apnews.com/article/salman-rushdie-on-ventilator-after-new-york-stabbing-5ea54212d71b95569ed85df7b0fb5fea|title=Agent: Rushdie off ventilator and talking, day after attack|publisher=AP News|first1=Carolyn|last1=Thompson|first2=Hillel|last2=Italie|date=14 August 2022|access-date=14 August 2022|archive-date=13 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813205627/https://apnews.com/article/salman-rushdie-on-ventilator-after-new-york-stabbing-5ea54212d71b95569ed85df7b0fb5fea|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=14 August 2022 |title=Salman Rushdie is off ventilator and able to talk, agent says |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/aug/14/salman-rushdie-is-off-ventilator-and-able-to-talk-agent-says |access-date=14 August 2022 |newspaper=The Guardian |language=en |archive-date=14 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814020814/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/aug/14/salman-rushdie-is-off-ventilator-and-able-to-talk-agent-says |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 23 October 2022, Wylie reported that Rushdie had lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand but survived the murder attempt.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Altares |first=Guillermo |date=22 October 2022 |title=Andrew Wylie, 'The Jackal' of books: 'Amazon is like ISIS; it takes no prisoners' |url=https://english.elpais.com/culture/2022-10-22/andrew-wylie-the-jackal-of-books-amazon-is-like-isis-it-takes-no-prisoners.html |access-date=24 October 2022 |website=EL PAÍS English Edition |language=en-us |archive-date=23 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023235335/https://english.elpais.com/culture/2022-10-22/andrew-wylie-the-jackal-of-books-amazon-is-like-isis-it-takes-no-prisoners.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Jones 2022">{{cite news | last=Jones | first=Sam | title=Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and use of one hand, says agent | newspaper=The Guardian | date=23 October 2022 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/23/salman-rushdie-has-lost-sight-in-one-eye-and-use-of-one-hand-says-agent | access-date=23 October 2022 | archive-date=18 June 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230618060655/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/23/salman-rushdie-has-lost-sight-in-one-eye-and-use-of-one-hand-says-agent | url-status=live }}</ref>

Rushdie's memoir about the attack, ''Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder'', is scheduled for publication in April 2024.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://amp.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/11/salman-rushdie-announces-memoir-knife-meditations-after-an-attempted-murder|title=Salman Rushdie announces memoir, ''Knife'', about being stabbed in 2022|last=Knight|first=Lucy|date=11 October 2023|website=amp.theguardian.com}}</ref>

==Awards, honours, and recognition==
Salman Rushdie has received many plaudits for his writings, including the European Union's Aristeion Prize for Literature, the Premio Grinzane Cavour (Italy), and the Writer of the Year Award in Germany, and many of literature's highest honours.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Review/One_more_bouquet_for_Saleem_Sinai/articleshow/3254751.cms|title=One more bouquet for Saleem Sinai|first=Nina|last=Martyris|newspaper=The Times of India|date=20 July 2008|access-date=7 November 2008|archive-date=12 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090112235447/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Review/One_more_bouquet_for_Saleem_Sinai/articleshow/3254751.cms|url-status=live}}</ref>

Awards and honours include:
* Austrian State Prize for European Literature (1993)<ref>{{cite web|title=Salman Rushdie: Kennedy Center|url=https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/r/ro-rz/salman-rushdie/|access-date=14 August 2022|archive-date=16 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231116183904/https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/r/ro-rz/salman-rushdie/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Booker Prize (1981)<ref>{{cite web|title=Salman Rushdie: The Booker Prizes|date=19 June 1947|url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/authors/salman-rushdie|access-date=14 August 2022|archive-date=6 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220906052716/https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/authors/salman-rushdie|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Liège, Belgium (1999)<ref>{{YouTube |lr_Rku7tl7Q |Salman Rushdie}}</ref>
*Golden PEN Award<ref>{{cite web|title=Golden Pen Award|url=http://www.englishpen.org/prizes/golden-pen-award-for-a-lifetimes-distinguished-service-to-literature|access-date=3 December 2012|publisher=English PEN|archive-date=21 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121121020544/http://www.englishpen.org/prizes/golden-pen-award-for-a-lifetimes-distinguished-service-to-literature/|url-status=live}}</ref>
*Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award (2014)<ref name="politiken">{{cite news|date=12 June 2013|title=Salman Rushdie får dansk litteraturpris på halv million|language=da|trans-title=Salman Rushdie receives the Danish literature prize of a half-million|newspaper=Politiken|url=http://politiken.dk/kultur/boger/ECE1995354/salman-rushdie-faar-dansk-litteraturpris-paa-halv-million/|access-date=12 June 2013|archive-date=16 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616035140/http://politiken.dk/kultur/boger/ECE1995354/salman-rushdie-faar-dansk-litteraturpris-paa-halv-million/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from [[Organization:Indiana University|Indiana University]] (2018)<ref>{{cite web|title=University Honors & Awards, Indiana University website|url=https://honorsandawards.iu.edu/awards/honoree/8433.html#:~:text=In%202018%2C%20Indiana%20University%20awarded,Humanities%20Festival%20held%20in%20Bloomington.|access-date=13 August 2022|archive-date=13 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813190249/https://honorsandawards.iu.edu/awards/honoree/8433.html#:~:text=In%202018%2C%20Indiana%20University%20awarded,Humanities%20Festival%20held%20in%20Bloomington.|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Honorary Doctor of Letters from [[Organization:Emory University|Emory University]] (2015)<ref>{{cite news|first=Janel|last=Davis|date=16 February 2015|title=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Author Salman Rushdie to deliver Emory commencement May 11|newspaper=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution|url=https://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/author-salman-rushdie-deliver-emory-commencement-may/OSUMu2jL6xJw0A4wSb84WK/|access-date=14 August 2022|archive-date=12 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812163630/https://www.ajc.com/news/local-education/author-salman-rushdie-deliver-emory-commencement-may/OSUMu2jL6xJw0A4wSb84WK/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* James Joyce Award from University College Dublin (2008)<ref>{{cite news|title=Salman Rushdie honoured at UCD, The Irish Times website|newspaper=The Irish Times|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/salmon-rushdie-honoured-at-ucd-1.829881|access-date=14 August 2022|archive-date=11 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011165930/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/salmon-rushdie-honoured-at-ucd-1.829881|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Outstanding Lifetime Achievement in Cultural Humanism from [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]] (2007)<ref>{{cite web|first=Greg|last=Epstein|date=20 April 2007|title=HNN #18: Salman Rushdie & Cultural Humanism|url=http://thehumanist.com/multimedia/podcast/hnn-18-salman-rushdie-cultural-humanism|access-date=9 October 2015|publisher=[[Organization:American Humanist Association|American Humanist Association]] and the Humanist Chaplaincy of Harvard University|archive-date=22 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922021132/http://thehumanist.com/multimedia/podcast/hnn-18-salman-rushdie-cultural-humanism|url-status=live}}</ref>
*PEN Pinter Prize (UK)<ref>{{cite web|date=19 June 2014|title=Salman Rushdie awarded the 2014 PEN/Pinter Prize|website=English PEN|url=http://www.englishpen.org/salman-rushdie-awarded-the-2014-pen-pinter-prize/|access-date=19 June 2014|archive-date=23 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140623151659/http://www.englishpen.org/salman-rushdie-awarded-the-2014-pen-pinter-prize/|url-status=live}}</ref>
*St. Louis Literary Award from the [[Organization:Saint Louis University|Saint Louis University]] Library Associates<ref>{{cite web|title=Saint Louis Literary Award – Saint Louis University|url=http://www.slu.edu/libraries/associates/award.html|access-date=24 December 2018|website=www.slu.edu|archive-date=23 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823003924/http://www.slu.edu/libraries/associates/award.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*Swiss Freethinkers Award 2019<ref>{{cite web|title=Salman Rushdie and Barbara Miller to receive Swiss Freethinker Award 2019|url=https://free-thought.ch/news/2019-11-07/salman-rushdie-and-barbara-miller-receive-swiss-freethinker-award-2019|access-date=18 November 2019|website=free-thought.ch|date=7 November 2019 |language=en|archive-date=12 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191112152233/https://free-thought.ch/news/2019-11-07/salman-rushdie-and-barbara-miller-receive-swiss-freethinker-award-2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Knighthood===
{{main|Religion:Salman Rushdie knighthood controversy}}
Rushdie was knighted for services to literature in the Queen's Birthday Honours on 16 June 2007. He remarked: "I am thrilled and humbled to receive this great honour, and am very grateful that my work has been recognised in this way."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6756149.stm |work=BBC News |title=15 June 2007 Rushdie knighted in honours list |access-date=16 June 2007 |date=15 June 2007 |archive-date=23 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070823004356/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6756149.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> In response to his knighthood, many nations with Muslim majorities protested. Parliamentarians of several of these countries condemned the action, and Iran and Pakistan called in their British envoys to protest formally. Controversial condemnation issued by Pakistan's Religious Affairs Minister Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq was in turn rebuffed by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2193993/Salman-Rushdie-is-knighted-by-the-Queen.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2193993/Salman-Rushdie-is-knighted-by-the-Queen.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Salman Rushdie is knighted by the Queen|last=Pierce|first=Andrew|work=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=23 May 2017|language=en}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Several called publicly for his death. Some non-Muslims expressed disappointment at Rushdie's knighthood, claiming that the writer did not merit such an honour and there were several other writers who deserved the knighthood more than Rushdie.<ref>"Sir Rubbish: Does Rushdie Deserve a Knighthood", ''Times Higher Education Supplement'', 20 June 2007.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/20/world/asia/20iht-rushdie.1.6228425.html|title=Protests spread to Malaysia over knighthood for Salman Rushdie|date=20 June 2007|work=The New York Times|access-date=23 May 2017|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=22 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622074115/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/20/world/asia/20iht-rushdie.1.6228425.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Religion:Al-Qaeda|Al-Qaeda]] condemned the Rushdie honour. The group's then-leader, [[Biography:Ayman al-Zawahiri|Ayman al-Zawahiri]], was quoted as saying in an audio recording that the UK's award for Rushdie was "an insult to Islam", and it was planning "a very precise response."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6289110.stm |work=BBC News |title=10 July 2007 Al-Qaeda condemns Rushdie honour |access-date=10 July 2007 |date=10 July 2007 |archive-date=28 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828020137/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6289110.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Rushdie was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to literature.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=63714|supp=y|page=B6|date=1 June 2022}}</ref>

==Religious and political beliefs==
===Religious background===
Rushdie came from a liberal Muslim family,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.biography.com/people/salman-rushdie-39245|title=Salman Rushdie|website=Biography.com|language=en-us|access-date=11 October 2017|archive-date=12 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012044134/https://www.biography.com/people/salman-rushdie-39245|url-status=live}}</ref> but he is now an atheist. In a 2006 interview with PBS, Rushdie called himself a "hardline atheist".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/moyers/faithandreason/print/faithandreason101_print.html|title=Bill Moyers on Faith & Reason – Bill Moyers and Salman Rushdie|date=23 June 2006|website=PBS|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-date=13 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013154432/https://www.pbs.org/moyers/faithandreason/print/faithandreason101_print.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1989, in an interview following the ''fatwa'', Rushdie said that he was in a sense a lapsed Muslim, though "shaped by Muslim culture more than any other," and a student of Islam.<ref name = Meer/> In another interview the same year, he said, "My point of view is that of a secular human being. I do not believe in supernatural entities, whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim or Hindu."<ref>{{cite news|title=Fact, faith and fiction|work=Far Eastern Economic Review|date=2 March 1989|page=11}}</ref>

In December 1990, Rushdie issued a statement reaffirming his Muslim faith, distancing himself from statements made by characters in ''Satanic Verses'' that cast aspersion on Islam or Prophet Mohammad, and opposing the release of the paperback editing of the novel.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hedges |first1=Chris |title=Rushdie Seeks to Mend His Rift With Islam |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/25/books/rushdie-seeks-to-mend-his-rift-with-islam.html |access-date=26 June 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=25 December 1990 |archive-date=26 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230626213338/https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/25/books/rushdie-seeks-to-mend-his-rift-with-islam.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Later, in 1992, he cited the release of the statement as perhaps his lowest point, regretting its language, which he said he had not written.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kamen |first1=Al |title=In 1992, Salman Rushdie wasn't sure he'd ever be safe |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/08/15/salman-rushdie-in-hiding/ |access-date=26 June 2023 |newspaper={{wipe|The Washington Post}} |date=15 August 2022 |archive-date=15 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815194136/https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/08/15/salman-rushdie-in-hiding/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Rushdie advocates the application of higher criticism, pioneered during the late 19th century. In a guest opinion piece printed in ''{{wipe|The Washington Post}}'' and ''The Times'' in mid-August 2005, Rushdie called for a reform in Islam.<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-1729998,00.html "Muslims unite! A new Reformation will bring your faith into the modern era"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112015156/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1072-1729998,00.html |date=12 January 2008 }}, ''The Times'', 11 August 2005</ref>

{{blockquote|What is needed is a move beyond tradition, nothing less than a reform movement to bring the core concepts of Islam into the modern age, a Muslim Reformation to combat not only the jihadist ideologues but also the dusty, stifling seminaries of the traditionalists, throwing open the windows to let in much-needed fresh air. ... It is high time, for starters, that Muslims were able to study the revelation of their religion as an event inside history, not supernaturally above it. ... Broad-mindedness is related to tolerance; open-mindedness is the sibling of peace.|author=Salman Rushdie|source="Muslims unite! A new Reformation will bring your faith into the modern era"}}

Rushdie is a critic of moral and [[Social:Cultural relativism|cultural relativism]]. In an interview with Point of Inquiry in 2006, he described his view as follows:<ref>{{cite web|title=Salman Rushdie – Secular Values, Human Rights and Islamism|url=http://www.pointofinquiry.org/salman_rushdie_secular_values_human_rights_and_islamism/|access-date=11 October 2006|publisher=Point of Inquiry|archive-date=12 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112091143/http://www.pointofinquiry.org/salman_rushdie_secular_values_human_rights_and_islamism|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|We need all of us, whatever our background, to constantly examine the stories inside which and with which we live. We all live in stories, so called grand narratives. Nation is a story. Family is a story. Religion is a story. Community is a story. We all live within and with these narratives. And it seems to me that a definition of any living vibrant society is that you constantly question those stories. That you constantly argue about the stories. In fact the arguing never stops. The argument itself is freedom. It's not that you come to a conclusion about it. And through that argument you change your mind sometimes.… And that's how societies grow. When you can't retell for yourself the stories of your life then you live in a prison.… Somebody else controls the story.… Now it seems to me that we have to say that a problem in contemporary Islam is the inability to re-examine the ground narrative of the religion.… The fact that in Islam it is very difficult to do this, makes it difficult to think new thoughts.|author=|title=|source=}}

Rushdie is an advocate of [[Religion:Religious satire|religious satire]]. He condemned the Charlie Hebdo shooting and defended comedic criticism of religions in a comment originally posted on English PEN where he called religions a medieval form of unreason. Rushdie called the attack a consequence of "religious totalitarianism", which according to him had caused "a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam". He said:<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/07/salman-rushdie-charlie-hebdo_n_6430904.html|title= Salman Rushdie Responds To Charlie Hebdo Attack, Says Religion Must Be Subject To Satire|first= Maddie|last= Crum|work= Huffington Post|date= 7 January 2015|access-date= 20 June 2015|archive-date= 21 April 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150421111119/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/07/salman-rushdie-charlie-hebdo_n_6430904.html|url-status= live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Religion, a medieval form of unreason, when combined with modern weaponry becomes a real threat to our freedoms. This religious totalitarianism has caused a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam and we see the tragic consequences in Paris today. I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity. 'Respect for religion' has become a code phrase meaning 'fear of religion.' Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect.}}

When asked about reading and writing as a human right, Rushdie states, "the larger stories, the grand narratives that we live in, which are things like nation, and family, and clan, and so on. Those stories are considered to be treated reverentially. They need to be part of the way in which we conduct the discourse of our lives and to prevent people from doing something very damaging to human nature."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pen.org/press-clip/the-art-of-bravery-an-interview-with-salman-rushdie/|title=The Art of Bravery: An Interview with Salman Rushdie|work=Los Angeles Review of Books|via=PEN America|date=25 April 2013|access-date=1 May 2019|archive-date=1 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501180708/https://pen.org/press-clip/the-art-of-bravery-an-interview-with-salman-rushdie/|url-status=live}}</ref> Though Rushdie believes the freedoms of literature to be universal, the bulk of his fictions portrays the struggles of the marginally underrepresented. This can be seen in his portrayal of the role of women in his novel ''Shame''. In this novel, Rushdie, "suggests that it is women who suffer most from the injustices of the Pakistani social order."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Deszcz |first1=Justyna |title=Salman Rushdie's attempt at a feminist fairytale reconfiguration in ''Shame'' |journal=Folklore |date=April 2004 |volume=115 |issue=1 |pages=27–44 |id={{ProQuest|2152779627}} |doi=10.1080/0015587042000192510 |s2cid=145667781 }}</ref> His support of feminism can also be seen in a 2015 interview with ''New York'' magazine's ''The Cut''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/11/15-famous-men-whether-theyre-feminists.html|title=15 Male Celebrities Answer 'Are You a Feminist?'|author=The Cut|work=The Cut|date=17 November 2015 |access-date=7 December 2015|archive-date=6 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706152328/https://www.thecut.com/2015/11/15-famous-men-whether-theyre-feminists.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Political background===
[[File:Paul Auster, Salman Rushdie and Shimon Peres.jpg|thumb|Paul Auster and Rushdie greeting Israeli President Shimon Peres with Caro Llewellyn in 2008.]]

====UK politics====

In 2006, Rushdie stated that he supported comments by Jack Straw, then-Leader of the House of Commons from Labour, who criticized the wearing of the niqab (a veil that covers all of the face except the eyes). Rushdie stated that his three sisters would never wear the veil. He said, "I think the battle against the veil has been a long and continuing battle against the limitation of women, so in that sense I'm completely on Straw's side."<ref>{{cite web|last=Wagner|first=Thomas|date=10 October 2006|title=Blair, Rushdie support former British foreign secretary who ignited veil debate|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20061010-0539-britain-veildispute.html|access-date=10 October 2006|publisher=SignOnSanDiego.com|archive-date=17 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417014236/http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20061010-0539-britain-veildispute.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

====US politics====
[[File:Bernie Sanders and Salman Rushdie.jpg|thumb|left|Rushdie and Bernie Sanders in 2004]]
Rushdie supported the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, leading historian [[Biography:Tariq Ali|Tariq Ali]] to label Rushdie part of what he considered to be "warrior writers" as "the belligerati".<ref>Mandel, Michael. 2004. ''How America Gets Away With Murder''. [[Company:Pluto Press|Pluto Press]]. p. 60.</ref> He was supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the [[Religion:Taliban|Taliban]] in Afghanistan, which began in 2001 but was a vocal critic of the 2003 war in Iraq. He has stated that while there was a "case to be made for the removal of Saddam Hussein", US unilateral military intervention was unjustifiable.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jul/09/iraq.usa |title=Letters, Salman Rushdie: No fondness for the Pentagon's politics &#124; World news |newspaper=The Guardian |date=9 July 2007 |access-date=13 March 2010 |location=London |archive-date=31 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130831182058/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jul/09/iraq.usa |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Biography:Terry Eagleton|Terry Eagleton]], a former admirer of Rushdie's work and Marxist literary critic, criticized him, saying he "cheered on the Pentagon's criminal ventures in Iraq and Afghanistan."<ref>{{cite web|title=The ageing punk of lit crit still knows how to spit&nbsp;– Times Online|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article2603984.ece|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512090519/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article2603984.ece|archive-date=12 May 2008|access-date=30 July 2008}}</ref> Eagleton subsequently apologized for having misrepresented Rushdie's views.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Terry Eagleton|author2=Michael Kustow|author3=Matthew Wright|author4=Neil Morris|date=12 July 2007|title=Letters: Writers challenging so-called civilisation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/jul/12/comment.letters|access-date=20 June 2015|newspaper=The Guardian|publisher=Scott Trust Limited|archive-date=21 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150621032429/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/jul/12/comment.letters|url-status=live}}</ref>

Rushdie supported the election of [[Biography:Barack Obama|Barack Obama]] for the US presidency and has often criticized the Republican Party. He was involved in the Occupy Movement, both as a presence at Occupy Boston and as a founding member of Occupy Writers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=OccupyWriters.com|url=http://occupywriters.com/|access-date=14 August 2022|website=occupywriters.com|archive-date=14 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814195835/http://occupywriters.com/|url-status=live}}</ref> Rushdie is a supporter of [[Engineering:Gun control|gun control]], blaming a shooting at a Colorado cinema in July 2012 on the American right to keep and bear arms.<ref>{{cite journal|date=21 July 2012|title=Salman Rushdie stirs up frenzy with tweets in response to Colorado multiplex shooting &#124; New York Daily News|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2012/07/salman-rushdie-stirs-up-frenzy-with-tweets-in-response-to-colorado-multiplex-shoot|journal=Daily News|location=New York|access-date=11 November 2012|archive-date=4 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904120946/http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2012/07/salman-rushdie-stirs-up-frenzy-with-tweets-in-response-to-colorado-multiplex-shoot|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Cheney|first=Alexandra|date=20 July 2012|title=Salman Rushdie Sparks Furor With Colorado Theater Shooting Tweets – Speakeasy|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/07/20/salman-rushdie-sparks-furor-with-colorado-shooting-tweets/|journal=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=11 November 2012|archive-date=17 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017022642/http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/07/20/salman-rushdie-sparks-furor-with-colorado-shooting-tweets/|url-status=live}}</ref> He acquired American citizenship in 2016 and voted for Hillary Clinton in that year's election.<ref>{{cite news|date=8 September 2017|title=Salman Rushdie Plays the Trump Card|first=Sarah |last=Begley|magazine=Time|url=http://time.com/magazine/south-pacific/4941231/september-25th-2017-vol-190-no-12-asia-south-pacific/|access-date=27 February 2019|archive-date=26 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226153207/http://time.com/magazine/south-pacific/4941231/september-25th-2017-vol-190-no-12-asia-south-pacific/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=9 February 2017|title=Salman Rushdie's new book features a 'narcissistic, media-savvy villain' with colored hair|first=Thu-Huong|last= Ha|work=Quartz|url=https://qz.com/905928/salman-rushdies-new-book-the-golden-house-features-a-narcissistic-media-savvy-villain-with-colored-hair/|access-date=27 February 2019|archive-date=28 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228065820/https://qz.com/905928/salman-rushdies-new-book-the-golden-house-features-a-narcissistic-media-savvy-villain-with-colored-hair/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Noting the rise of "populist authoritarian demagoguery" around the world, Rushdie said there was "a willingness amongst at least some part of the [US] population to cease to value the democratic values enshrined in the first amendment. So I think the problem is, I would now say, political more than primarily religious".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gabbatt |first=Adam |date=2023-09-14 |title='We're facing another old enemy': Rushdie warns against global authoritarianism |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/13/were-facing-another-old-enemy-rushdie-warns-against-global-authoritarianism |access-date=2023-10-29 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=29 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029120914/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/13/were-facing-another-old-enemy-rushdie-warns-against-global-authoritarianism |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Against religious extremism====
In the wake of the [[Religion:Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy|''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy]] in March 2006 Rushdie signed the manifesto ''Together Facing the New Totalitarianism'', a statement warning of the dangers of religious extremism. The Manifesto was published in the left-leaning French weekly ''[[Biography:Charlie Hebdo|Charlie Hebdo]]'' in March 2006.<ref>{{cite news|date=1 March 2006|title=Writers issue cartoon row warning|work=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4763520.stm|access-date=19 February 2014|archive-date=31 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131004236/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4763520.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

When Amnesty International suspended human rights activist Gita Sahgal for saying to the press that she thought the organization should distance itself from Moazzam Begg and his organization, Rushdie said:<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7034773.ece Salman Rushdie's statement on Amnesty International] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601171433/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7034773.ece |date=1 June 2010 }}, ''The Sunday Times'', 21 February 2010</ref> <blockquote>Amnesty…has done its reputation incalculable damage by allying itself with Moazzam Begg and his group Cageprisoners, and holding them up as human rights advocates. It looks very much as if Amnesty's leadership is suffering from a kind of moral bankruptcy, and has lost the ability to distinguish right from wrong. It has greatly compounded its error by suspending the redoubtable Gita Sahgal for the crime of going public with her concerns. Gita Sahgal is a woman of immense integrity and distinction.… It is people like Gita Sahgal who are the true voices of the human rights movement; Amnesty and Begg have revealed, by their statements and actions, that they deserve our contempt.</blockquote>

In July 2020, Rushdie was one of the 153 signers of the "Harper's Letter" (also known as "A Letter on Justice and Open Debate") that expressed concern that "the free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted."<ref>{{Cite web |date=7 July 2020 |title=A Letter on Justice and Open Debate {{!}} Harper's Magazine |url=https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/ |access-date=23 August 2022 |website=Harper’s Magazine |language=en |archive-date=21 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210521055003/https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In October 2023, Rushdie expressed his "horror" at both Hamas' attack on Israel and [[Place:Israel|Israel]]'s retaliation in the Gaza Strip and called for a "cessation in hostilities".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231020-rushdie-says-filled-with-foreboding-at-israel-hamas-war |title=Rushdie urges end to fighting between Israel and Hamas |date=20 October 2023 |agency=France 24 |access-date=24 October 2023 |archive-date=30 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030021616/https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231020-rushdie-says-filled-with-foreboding-at-israel-hamas-war |url-status=live }}</ref>

====South Asian politics and Kashmir====
Rushdie has been critical of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, after Khan took personal jabs at him in a 2012 interview where Khan called Rushdie "unbalanced", saying he has the "mindset of a small man", claiming they had "never met" and he would never "want to meet him ever", despite the two being spotted together in public numerous times.<ref>{{cite news |first=Leo|last=Hickman|date=26 March 2012 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/shortcuts/2012/mar/26/salman-rushdie-imran-khan |url-status=live |access-date=8 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004191404/https://www.theguardian.com/books/shortcuts/2012/mar/26/salman-rushdie-imran-khan |archive-date=4 October 2013 |title=Salman Rushdie v Imran Khan: it's war |newspaper={{wipe|The Guardian}} |language=en }}</ref>

Rushdie has expressed his preference for India over Pakistan on numerous occasions in writing and on live television interviews. In one such interview in 2003, Rushdie claimed "Pakistan sucks" after being asked about why he felt more like an outsider there than in India or England. He cited India's diversity, openness, and "richness of life experience" as his preference over Pakistan's "airlessness", resulting from a lack of personal freedom, widespread public corruption, and inter-ethnic tension.<ref>{{cite AV media |work=Biermann69 |date=27 December 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMlARal_oEc |url-status=live |access-date=8 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308094352/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMlARal_oEc |archive-date=8 March 2022 |title=Salman Rushdie on Pakistan Sucks! |via=YouTube |language=en }}</ref>

In Indian politics, Rushdie has criticized the [[Social:Bharatiya Janata Party|Bharatiya Janata Party]] and its chairperson, current Prime Minister Narendra Modi.<ref name="bodeill">{{cite news |title=A Narendra Modi victory would bode ill for India, say Rushdie and Kapoor |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/10/indian-artists-letter-guardian-worry-election |first=Jason |last=Burke |date=10 April 2014 |newspaper=The Guardian |location=Delhi |access-date=23 June 2014 |archive-date=10 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140710071016/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/10/indian-artists-letter-guardian-worry-election |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/14/rushdie-atwood-restore-citizenship-critic-modi|title=Rushdie and Atwood join calls to restore citizenship to critic of Modi|last=Flood|first=Alison|date=14 November 2019|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=23 December 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222120949/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/14/rushdie-atwood-restore-citizenship-critic-modi|url-status=live}}</ref>

In a 2006 interview about his novel ''Shalimar the Clown'', Rushdie laments the division of Kashmir into zones of Indian and Pakistani administration as having cut his family down the middle.<ref name=Qantara>{{cite web|title=Interview with Salman Rushdie: Kashmir, Paradise Lost|first=Lewis|last=Gropp|url=https://en.qantara.de/content/interview-with-salman-rushdie-kashmir-paradise-lost|date=12 October 2009|access-date=4 April 2020|website=Qantara.de – Dialogue with the Islamic World|language=en|archive-date=17 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617112637/https://en.qantara.de/content/interview-with-salman-rushdie-kashmir-paradise-lost|url-status=live}}</ref> In August 2019, he criticized the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, tweeting: "Even from seven thousand miles away it's clear that what's happening in Kashmir is an atrocity. Not much to celebrate this August 15th."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/salmanrushdie/status/1162021115805491200?lang=en|title=Even from seven thousand miles away it's clear that what's happening in Kashmir is an atrocity. Not much to celebrate this August 15th.|last=Rushdie|first=Salman|date=15 August 2019|website=@salmanrushdie|language=en|access-date=4 April 2020|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308154152/https://twitter.com/salmanrushdie/status/1162021115805491200?lang=en|url-status=live}}</ref> He has previously referred to crackdowns in Indian-administered Kashmir as pretexts for the rise of jihadism in the region:<ref name=Qantara /><blockquote>The phrase of "crackdown" that the Indian army uses really is a euphemism of mass destruction. And rape. And brutalisation. That happens all the time. It's still happening now. ... The decision to treat all Kashmiris as if they're potential terrorists is what has unleashed this, the kind of "holocaust" against the Kashmiri people. And we know ourselves, from most recent events in Europe, how important it is to resist treating all Muslims as if they're terrorists, but the Indian army has taken the decision to do the opposite of that, to actually decide that everybody is a potential combatant to treat them in that way. And the level of brutality is quite spectacular. And, frankly, without that the jihadists would have had very little response from the Kashmiri people who were not really traditionally interested in radical Islam. So now they're caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, and that's the tragedy of the place. ... And really what I was trying to do was say exactly that the attraction of the jihad in Kashmir arose out of the activities of the Indian army. ... </blockquote>

==Bibliography==
===Novels===
*''Grimus'' (1975)
*''Midnight's Children'' (1981)
*''Shame'' (1983)
*''[[Religion:The Satanic Verses|The Satanic Verses]]'' (1988)
*''The Moor's Last Sigh'' (1995)
*''The Ground Beneath Her Feet'' (1999)
*''Fury'' (2001)
*''Shalimar the Clown'' (2005)
*''The Enchantress of Florence'' (2008)
*''Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights'' (2015)
* ''The Golden House'' (2017)<ref>''[http://www.vowelor.com/book/the-golden-house-salman-rushdie-review/ "The Golden House"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509085622/http://www.vowelor.com/book/the-golden-house-salman-rushdie-review/ |date=9 May 2017 }}'' by Salman Rushdie, ''Random House''.</ref>
* ''Quichotte'' (2019)<ref>''[https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/612467/quichotte-by-salman-rushdie/9780593132982/ "Quichotte"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725145920/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/612467/quichotte-by-salman-rushdie/9780593132982/ |date=25 July 2019 }}'' by Salman Rushdie, ''Penguin Random House''.</ref>
* ''Victory City'' (2023)<ref>{{cite news|date=27 July 2022|title=New Rushdie Novel 'Victory City' To Be Published In February 2023|url=https://www.bertelsmann.com/news-and-media/news/new-rushdie-novel-victory-city-to-be-published-in-february-2023.jsp|work=Bertelsmann|access-date=19 December 2022|archive-date=19 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221219231523/https://www.bertelsmann.com/news-and-media/news/new-rushdie-novel-victory-city-to-be-published-in-february-2023.jsp|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Review: {{Cite web |last=Gruber |first=Fiona |date=8 February 2023 |title=Salman Rushdie's new novel is a tale of power, exile and steely defiance |url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/salman-rushdie-s-new-novel-is-a-tale-of-power-exile-and-steely-defiance-20230206-p5ci6z.html |access-date=5 March 2023 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en |archive-date=5 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230305000650/https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/salman-rushdie-s-new-novel-is-a-tale-of-power-exile-and-steely-defiance-20230206-p5ci6z.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Collections===
*''East, West'' (1994)
*''Mirrorwork: 50 Years of Indian Writing 1947–1997'' (1997, Editor, with Elizabeth West)
*''The Best American Short Stories'' (2008, Guest Editor)

===Children's books===
*''Haroun and the Sea of Stories'' (1990)<ref>{{cite web|title=Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie|url=https://www.purplepencilproject.com/book-review-haroun-and-the-sea-of-stories/|date=5 January 2017|website=Purple Pencil Project|language=en-US|access-date=23 May 2020|archive-date=7 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607140235/https://www.purplepencilproject.com/book-review-haroun-and-the-sea-of-stories/|url-status=live}}</ref>
*''Luka and the Fire of Life'' (2010)

===Essays and nonfiction===
*''In Good Faith'', Granta Books (1990)
*''Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism, 1981–1991'' (1992)
*''The Wizard of Oz: BFI Film Classics'', British Film Institute (1992)
*''Mohandas Gandhi'', ''{{wipe|Time (magazine)}}'' (13 April 1998)<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988159,00.html|first=Salman|last=Rushdie|title=Mohandas Gandhi|date=13 April 1998|magazine={{wipe|Time (magazine)}}
|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516042424/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988159,00.html |archive-date=16 May 2007}}</ref>
*''Imagine There Is No Heaven'' (Extract from ''Letters to the Six Billionth World Citizen'', published in English by Uitgeverij Podium, Amsterdam)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/oct/16/salmanrushdie |title=Imagine There Is No Heaven (extract) |first=Salman |last=Rushdie |date=16 October 1999 |newspaper={{wipe|The Guardian}} |url-access=limited |access-date=5 September 2021 |archive-date=19 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419080715/https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/oct/16/salmanrushdie |url-status=live }}</ref>
*''Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992–2002'' (2002)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/158940/step-across-this-line-by-salman-rushdie/|title=Step Across This Line by Salman Rushdie|website=Penguin Random House|access-date=5 September 2021|archive-date=18 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818120935/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/158940/step-across-this-line-by-salman-rushdie/|url-status=live}}</ref>
*''The East Is Blue'' (2004)<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/porn-is-vital-to-freedom-says-rushdie-mz9ffjjgv3m|title=Porn is vital to freedom, says Rushdie|first=Sarah|last=Baxter|author2=Richard Brooks|newspaper=The Times|date=8 August 2004|access-date=13 August 2022|archive-date=13 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813154512/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/porn-is-vital-to-freedom-says-rushdie-mz9ffjjgv3m|url-status=live}}</ref>
*"A fine pickle", ''The Guardian'' (28 February 2009)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/feb/28/salman-rushdie-novels-film-adaptations|title=A fine pickle {{!}} Salman Rushdie on celluloid adaptations of novels|first=Salman|last=Rushdie|date=28 February 2009|newspaper=The Guardian|url-access=limited|access-date=5 September 2021|archive-date=5 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210905100310/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/feb/28/salman-rushdie-novels-film-adaptations|url-status=live}}</ref>
*''In the South'', ''Booktrack'' (7 February 2012)
*''Languages of Truth: Essays 2003–2020'' (2021)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/616882/languages-of-truth-by-salman-rushdie/|title=Languages of Truth by Salman Rushdie|website=Penguin Random House|access-date=5 September 2021|archive-date=8 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008100922/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/616882/languages-of-truth-by-salman-rushdie/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Memoirs===
*''The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey'' (1987)
*''Joseph Anton: A Memoir'' (2012)
* ''Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder'' (2024)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://amp.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/11/salman-rushdie-announces-memoir-knife-meditations-after-an-attempted-murder|title=Salman Rushdie announces memoir, Knife, about being stabbed in 2022|last=Knight|first=Lucy|date=11 October 2023|website=amp.theguardian.com}}</ref>

==See also==
* ''The Butterfly Hunter''
* [[Religion:Criticism of Islam|Criticism of Islam]]
* Censorship in South Asia
* Hysterical realism
* Indians in the New York City metropolitan area
* List of fatwas
* List of Indian writers
* PEN International
* Postmodern literature
* [[Religion:Blasphemy|Blasphemy]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name}}
* [http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=rushdie_salman Salman Rushdie] at ''[[The Encyclopedia of Fantasy]]''
* [http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/rushdie_salman Salman Rushdie] at ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]''
* {{C-SPAN}}
* {{New York Times topic}}
* [https://rose.library.emory.edu/ Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library], Emory University: [http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/8zv36 Salman Rushdie papers, 1947–2012]


{{DEFAULTSORT:Rushdie, Salman}}
[[Category:Critics of religions]]

{{Sourceattribution|Salman Rushdie}}