About Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie is the author of Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses. The latter novel was deemed sacrilegious by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeni, who issued an order for the author to be killed. Forced to live in exile, Rushdie produced some of his most compelling work, including The Moor’s Last Sigh and The Ground Beneath Her Feet. He was born in Bombay and graduated from King’s College, Cambridge, in England. He draws on his unique upbringing and personal history to comment on modern life. He has received numerous awards, including the Booker Prize, the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel, the Writers’ Guild Award, and the Aristeion Prize for Literature. In 2004, he was elected President of PEN American Centre, a branch of the world’s oldest human rights organization.