Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born novelist, whose work, combining magical realism with historical fiction, is primarily concerned with the connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, with much set on the 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. His fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), was the subject of controversy, provoking protests from Muslims. Death threats were made against him, including a fatwā calling for his assassination issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, in 1989. The British government put Rushdie under police protection.
In 1983, Rushdie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was appointed Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1999. In 2007, he was knighted for his services to literature. In 2008, The Times ranked him thirteenth on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.
Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States. He was named Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University in 2015. Earlier, he taught at 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 controversy over The Satanic Verses.
Salman Rushdie’s Wife, Personal Life
Rushdie has been married four times. He was married to his first wife Clarissa Luard[13] from 1976 to 1987 and fathered a son, Zafar (born 1979).He left her in the mid-’80s for the Australian writer Robyn Davidson, to whom he was introduced by their mutual friend Bruce Chatwin. His second wife was the American novelist Marianne Wiggins; they were married in 1988 and divorced in 1993. His third wife, from 1997 to 2004, was Elizabeth West; they have a son, Milan (born 1997). In 2004, he married Padma Lakshmi, an Indian-American actress, model, and host of the American reality-television show Top Chef. The marriage ended in 2007.[19]
In 1999, Rushdie had an operation to correct ptosis, a problem with the levator palpebrae superioris muscle that causes a drooping of the upper eyelid. According to Rushdie, it was making 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.
Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States, mostly near Union Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. He is a fan of the English football club Tottenham Hotspur.
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