Salman Rushdie is a multi award winning novelist and essayist. Born on June 19, in 1947 the British Indian sets a great deal of his fiction on the Indian subcontinent. His style of writing has been described as magical realism with a mix of historical fact. A dominating theme of his writing is the connections between, and the migrations and disruptions that are found between the Eastern and Western societies found in our world.

Salman had his first real success with his second novel Midnight’s Children. It was Midnight’s Children which earned him the Booker Prize in 1981. In 2007 he was appointed a Knight Bachelor for services to literature by Queen Elizabeth II. He also holds the rank of Commandeur in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France. During 2007 Salman began a five year term as the Distinguished Writer in Residence at Emory University. 2008 saw him elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Grimus was Selman’s first novel. This was in part a science fiction tale and was not well received by critics or the public. This novel was for the most part unnoticed. Midnight’s Children shot Salman to fame. It has been regarded by many to one of the great books of the last century. As well as winning the Booker Prize in 1981, it was also awarded the Best of the Bookers in 1993 and in 2008. His next novel was Shame written in 1983. Shame won the Prix du Meilleur Livre Entranger or Best Foreign Book in France and was runner up for the Booker Prize. Other works by Salman Rushdie include the controversial The Satanic Verses, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Shalimar the Clown and Step Across the Line.