Title: Salman Rushdie Content: Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British- American novelist and essayist. He is the author of Midnight's Children (1981), which won the Booker Prize. His best known work was The Satanic Verses (1988), which made him a controversial author and caused him to have many death threats. Rushdie was born in India, but was sent to England to go to private school. He has lived in the United States since 2000. Rushdie is well known for writing stories which use "magic realism", which is similar to surrealism. This means that things in his stories happen which may be magic or impossible, such as falling from an aeroplane and floating down as gently as paper.The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, Chapter 1. He often writes about India, and his stories often are set in different parts of the world.For example, Midnight's Children (about India), Shame (about Pakistan), The Satanic Verses (India and England), and Shalimar the Clown (set in India, the U.S.A., and France). == Fiction == In 1988, Rushdie wrote a book called The Satanic Verses. The book included a fictional story about some characters with a made-up religion. Some people have said that it insults Muhammad, but others disagree. Rushdie said about the story: "his Prophet was not called Muhammad, lived in a city not called Mecca, and created a religion not (or not quite) called Islam. And he appeared only in the dream sequences of a man being driven insane by his loss of faith.".Joseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie Because of this book, a fatwa was issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran. It called for Rushdie's execution. == Controversy == The leader of the country of Iran talked on the radio about Rushdie. He said that Rushdie did not believe in Islam and that Rushdie should be executed because he thought the book was bad. This is called a fatwa. In the year 1989, the British government began protecting Rushdie. He says he has always been an atheist, but is still interested in religion. Rushdie was knighted for services to literature in the Queen's Birthday Honours on 16 June 2007. Many nations with Muslim majorities were not happy with this. Pakistan's Religious Affairs Minister Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq said the knighthood was wrong. Then the Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto said this was not the way Pakistan thought. Their fathers Zia-ul-Haq and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto were in Rushdie's novel Shame. The BBC said that "In 1998, the Iranian Government gave a public commitment it would not carry out the death sentence against Mr Rushdie", but some people such as "Iranian hardliners" don't agree. ==Personal life== He has been married four times. His last marriage was to actress and model Padma Lakshmi; they divorced in 2007. ===2022 stabbing attack=== On 12 August 2022, Rushdie was stabbed multiple times by a man right before giving a speech at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York. Rushdie was airlifted to hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he underwent surgery. He was stabbed in the neck and was said to have lost an eye, had nerve damage in his arms, his liver was hurt and he was unable to speak. A day later, Rushdie was taken off the ventilator and was able to speak. == Writing by Salman Rushdie == === Fiction === * Grimus * Midnight's Children * Shame * The Satanic Verses * Haroun and the Sea of Stories * East, West * The Moor's Last Sigh * The Ground Beneath Her Feet * Fury * Shalimar the Clown * The Enchantress of Florence * Luka and the Fire of Life * Je Moeder === Nonfiction === * The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey * Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991 * Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992-2002 === Plays === * Haroun and the Sea of Stories (with Tim Supple and David Tushingham) * Midnight's Children (with Tim Supple and Simon Reade) === Screenplay === * Midnight's Children === Anthologies === * Mirrorwork: 50 Years of Indian Writing, 1947-1997 (coeditor) * Best American Short Stories 2008 (coeditor) == Gallery == File:Salman Rushdie by Kubik 02.JPG File:Salman Rushdie by Kubik 04.JPG File:Salman Rushdie by Kubik 03.JPG