Salman Rushdie is a prominent British-American author with Indian roots. His debut work, “Grimus,” received moderate reception, while his next novel, “Midnight’s Children,” earned him the Booker Prize in 1981. His fourth novel, “The Satanic Verses,” sparked outrage in the global Muslim community, resulting in a death sentence issued by Ayatollah Khomeini. Rushdie chronicled his life after the controversy in his memoir, “Joseph Anton,” published in 2012. He has also penned several other novels, including “The Ground Beneath Her Feet” (1999), “The Enchantress of Florence” (2008), “The Golden House” (2017), and “Quichotte” (2019).
On August 12, 2022, Rushdie was attacked while preparing to speak at an event in Chautauqua, New York. The attacker, 24-year-old Hadi Matar, stabbed him multiple times, leaving Rushdie on a ventilator and unable to speak. Matar was arrested at the scene and is awaiting arraignment. Motive for the attack remains unclear, according to State Police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski.
Salman Rushdie, born Ahmed Salman Rushdie on June 19, 1947, in Mumbai, India, is the only son of Anis Ahmed Rushdie and Negin Butt. He attended Cathedral and John Connon School in Bombay and later Rugby School in Warwickshire, England, before pursuing higher studies at King’s College, University of Cambridge.
Rushdie has been married and divorced four times. His ex-wives include Clarissa Luard, Marian Wiggins, Elizabeth West, and Padma Lakshmi. As of August 2022, Rushdie is not married, but he has two children, Zafar Rushdie and Milan Rushdie.
His literary career commenced as a copywriter for Ogilvy & Mather, followed by the publication of his debut novel, “Grimus,” in 1975. However, it was his controversial novel, “The Satanic Verses,” published in 1988, that propelled him to global fame. Despite the ensuing controversy and a decade-long exile due to a fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, Rushdie continued to write and publish books, earning numerous awards and accolades. He was awarded a Knighthood for services to literature in 2007.
Rushdie’s estimated net worth stands at $15 million, garnered from his career as an essayist and novelist. He was born to Anis Ahmed Rushdie, a lawyer-turned-businessman, and Negin Butt, a teacher. His father was dismissed from the Indian Civil Services (ICS) after an alteration was discovered in the birth certificate he submitted. Rushdie is an atheist, as he revealed in an interview with PBS.
