Salman Rushdie: podcast appearances and interviews

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie, born on 19 June 1947, is an Indian-born British and American novelist known for his work that often combines magical realism with historical fiction. His writing primarily explores themes of connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, with settings typically on the Indian subcontinent. Rushdie's second novel, Midnight's Children, published in 1981, won the Booker Prize that year and was recognized as one of the best winners on the 25th and 40th anniversaries of the prize. His fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, sparked controversy due to its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad, leading to assassination attempts, death threats, and a fatwa calling for his death issued by the supreme leader of Iran. The book was subsequently banned in multiple countries, and extremists carried out violence citing the novel as motivation. In 2022, Rushdie was attacked and stabbed at the Chautauqua Institution, resulting in the loss of his right eye and injuries to his liver and hands; two men who helped him during the incident received the Carnegie Medal for heroism in 2025. Educated at King's College, University of Cambridge, where he earned a degree in history in 1968, Rushdie has received numerous honors including being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1983, appointed a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1999, and knighted in 2007. Since 2000, he has been based in the United States and has held teaching positions at institutions such as Emory University and New York University. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2023.