Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 19 June 1947, shortly before Indian independence. He was educated in England, at Rugby School and Cambridge, and made his home in Britain before later settling in the United States. He is a novelist and essayist whose work mixes history, myth, comedy and fantasy, often drawing on the migrations and political upheavals of South Asia. His second novel, Midnight's Children, won the Booker Prize and made him one of the leading voices in English-language fiction. The publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988 led to fierce controversy and to a death edict from Iran's leader, forcing him into years of hiding under police protection. He continued to write and speak in defence of free expression. In 2022 he was gravely wounded in an attack on stage in New York, an experience he later wrote about. His books are admired for their energy, invention and love of storytelling.