Ahmed Salman Rushdie was born on the 19th June
His first novel, Grimus, was published in 1975 and
was not a great success, largely ignored by both the critics and the reading
public. It was a full six years before his second novel appeared in 1981, but Midnight’s Children would become an
instant classic, winning the 1981 Booker Prize and going on to be awarded the
honour of being the “Booker of Bookers”, judged to be the best novel to win the
Booker in the first 25 years of the prize.
His third novel, Shame (1983) was also heaped with praise, winning the prestigious
French award Prix du Meilleur
Livre Étranger (Best
Foreign Book), and achieving the Booker shortlist. This novel was followed by a
less well-known work, The Jaguar Smile,
in 1987.
However, Rushdie is not known solely
for his literary talents. The Satanic
Verses was published in 1988 and caused great upset amongst the Islamic
community. On February 14th 1989, the Ayatollah Khomeini, at the time the
spiritual leader of Iran, declared the book to be blasphemous against Islam and
issued a fatwa on Radio Tehran – an order for Rushdie to be executed. The
novelist was forced to live under protection, and copies of his book were burnt
all over the world. The fatwa was officially lifted in 1998, although there are
many, particularly in
Despite the fatwa, Rushdie has
continued to write through the nineties and the noughties,
turning his hand to children’s fiction as well as essays and general
non-fiction. He has continued to receive both public and critical acclaim,
although a feeling persists that he has yet to match the greatness of Midnight’s Children. Some of his best
known works from this time include The
Moor’s Last Sigh (1995), The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999), Fury (2001), and his most recent full length novel Shalimar The Clown in 2005. Critical
reaction to this most recent book was split, but the novel was still
shortlisted for The Whitbread Book Award, and confirmed his popularity in
Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for
services to literature in June 2007, indicating that despite past
controversies, he is now very much part of the accepted literary establishment.
He is the bookmakers' favourite to win the "Best of Booker Prize "
that has recently been announced to mark the 40th anniversary of this great
award .
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Other interesting biographies : [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
[6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
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